Maloon Powers Pitre Higgins & Dennehy LLC Buys New Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Maloon Powers Pitre Higgins & Dennehy LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,613,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,264,359,000 after acquiring an additional 830,252 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,953,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,834,682,000 after acquiring an additional 62,518 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,925,062,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 123.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,242,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $702,182,000 after purchasing an additional 409,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $299.00 to $296.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Argus upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $267.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $290.28.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott Hudson sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.13, for a total value of $3,169,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 90,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,840,902.06. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Walter Bay sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.08, for a total transaction of $3,240,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 71,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,254,543.36. This trade represents a 14.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $7,310,090 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $262.24 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $254.17 and a 200-day moving average of $227.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $190.75 and a twelve month high of $313.55. The firm has a market cap of $67.21 billion, a PE ratio of 43.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.