Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $6.93 Million Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 536 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $6,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,997,767,000 after buying an additional 4,815,007 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,499,185,000 after buying an additional 739,130 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth about $240,665,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3,142.2% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,268,000 after buying an additional 621,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth about $136,565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $344.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2%

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $301.75 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $299.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $77.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.86 and a beta of 0.73. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $275.56 and a 12 month high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 36.93%.

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