Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Takes $324,000 Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% in the 2nd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $304.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $288.55 and a 200-day moving average of $276.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $66.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.72. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $218.63 and a twelve month high of $308.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.