DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Acquires 6,374 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,374 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $35,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after buying an additional 739,130 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 valued at $5,997,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,021,798,000 after acquiring an additional 137,354 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.5% during the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,464,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,097,000 after purchasing an additional 128,071 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,409,000 after purchasing an additional 9,458 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AJG. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $288.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $278.75 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $275.56 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $299.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $313.13. The company has a market cap of $71.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.59 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%.Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 36.93%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.