D. Scott Neal Inc. Reduces Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

D. Scott Neal Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,330 shares during the quarter. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. comprises about 8.9% of D. Scott Neal Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. D. Scott Neal Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $16,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% during the second quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AJG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.00.

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

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,625,146.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total transaction of $1,992,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,625,146.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total value of $4,244,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 329,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,121,853.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,622,660. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $289.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $288.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $267.65. The stock has a market cap of $63.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.72. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $218.63 and a 52-week high of $301.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 10.41%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 48.58%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.