Unisphere Establishment Cuts Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Unisphere Establishment cut its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 635,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,800 shares during the quarter. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up approximately 1.2% of Unisphere Establishment’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Unisphere Establishment’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $137,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of AJG stock opened at $247.57 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $315.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.60 billion, a PE ratio of 40.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $226.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.22.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The company’s revenue was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 45.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $618,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.