Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 87.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $68,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 580.0% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,626,666.10. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.57.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $280.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.04 billion, a PE ratio of 53.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $285.21. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $223.43 and a one year high of $316.72. 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. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. Research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.