Legato Capital Management LLC Has $1.66 Million Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Legato Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 42.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,353 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after acquiring an additional 580,134 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after acquiring an additional 47,656 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,541,044,000 after acquiring an additional 79,429 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,330,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,408,000 after acquiring an additional 31,181 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $322.03 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $324.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $292.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $80.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.39 and a beta of 0.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. On average, equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.