Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to “Neutral”

The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $313.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.7 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $315.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $218.63 and a one year high of $315.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,853,685.40. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 15.7% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,450,000 after acquiring an additional 14,860 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth about $749,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 161,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,756,000 after buying an additional 37,070 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth approximately $3,297,000. Finally, Marsico Capital Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 316.9% during the second quarter. Marsico Capital Management LLC now owns 11,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 8,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.