Leeward Financial Partners LLC Sells 5,522 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Leeward Financial Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 70.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,522 shares during the quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.4% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% in the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.9% in the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 1,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.1% in the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 10,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $259.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $240.00 target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $283.00 to $280.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE AJG opened at $202.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $52.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.54. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $190.75 and a 52 week high of $351.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $211.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 45.31%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $908,480.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 19,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.