Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target Cut to $327.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Barclays from $346.00 to $327.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $372.00 to $371.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:AJG traded down $2.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $315.76. 1,232,242 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,380,132. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $328.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $263.22 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The firm has a market cap of $80.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.70 and a beta of 0.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 14.83% and a net margin of 14.39%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.17, for a total transaction of $3,540,285.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 91,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,741,474.75. This represents a 10.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total value of $4,645,755.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 205.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.