Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Citigroup

Equities researchers at Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.04% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AJG. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $370.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $331.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.6%

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $293.41 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $274.25 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $308.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $322.39. The company has a market capitalization of $75.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.68 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

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

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president owned 91,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,741,474.75. This trade represents a 10.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction 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. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,096,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,954,625,000 after purchasing an additional 685,278 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,815,007 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,743,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,439,207,000 after purchasing an additional 117,646 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,067,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,857,737,000 after acquiring an additional 305,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,327,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,471 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.