Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Has $2.50 Million Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co reduced its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $2,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,502,000. C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 6,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,859,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 3,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 61,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,512,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 32,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,260,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two 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, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $332.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $332.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.16. The stock has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.93 and a beta of 0.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. This represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value 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. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.