V Square Quantitative Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 21.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 34.3% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AJG. Barclays decreased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $369.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $344.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $330.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total value of $3,825,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total value of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AJG stock opened at $305.40 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.56 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The stock has a market cap of $78.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $317.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.93%.

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