Salomon & Ludwin LLC Acquires New Shares in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJGFree Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 739,130 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in 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 worth $1,021,798,000 after buying an additional 137,354 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 128,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,409,000 after buying an additional 9,458 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $25,569,792. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 over the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $280.70 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $299.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $313.64. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $275.56 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87 and a beta of 0.73.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJGGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on AJG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on 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. Citigroup initiated coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $344.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $288.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.43.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AJG

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

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