Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Has $196.82 Million Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich decreased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 522,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 11,161 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.20% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $196,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 205.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Centennial Bank AR acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 1.8%

AJG traded up $5.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $314.76. 366,796 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,500,762. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $267.00 and a one year high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.61 billion, a PE ratio of 45.55 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $323.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $322.23.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 11,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,109,256.33. This represents a 53.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 45,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AJG. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $372.00 to $371.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $318.21.

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.