Avestar Capital LLC Raises Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AJG. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 132.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,798,000 after buying an additional 4,092 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 263.7% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.5% during the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,297,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AJG. UBS Group increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AJG opened at $315.00 on Thursday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $218.63 and a 12 month high of $315.73. The stock has a market cap of $69.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $289.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. This trade represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,892,280 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.