Walter Bay Sells 12,000 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Stock

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) General Counsel Walter Bay sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.08, for a total transaction of $3,240,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 71,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,254,543.36. This represents a 14.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.9%

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded down $2.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $266.16. 1,426,169 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,369,775. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.36. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $313.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.14, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 13.28%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.28.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth $3,587,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 23,248.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 86,171,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,782,367,000 after purchasing an additional 85,802,321 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 94.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 25.4% during the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,791,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saudi Central Bank increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.9% during the second quarter. Saudi Central Bank now owns 17,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,132,000 after buying an additional 8,518 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.