Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 100,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,742 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $34,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% in the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Allred Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC now owns 3,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, City Holding Co. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AJG. Wall Street Zen downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $329.15.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:AJG opened at $289.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.05 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $274.25 and a one year high of $351.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $322.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 36.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,109,256.33. This represents a 53.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total value of $342,040.00. Following the sale, the director owned 45,323 shares in the company, valued at $15,502,278.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.