Gilbert & Cook Inc. Purchases 446 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 15.7% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,450,000 after acquiring an additional 14,860 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 29.9% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 161,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,756,000 after acquiring an additional 37,070 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at $3,297,000. Marsico Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 316.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marsico Capital Management LLC now owns 11,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after buying an additional 8,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $749,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.14.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $294.58 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $218.63 and a 1-year high of $301.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $288.49 and its 200 day moving average is $274.96. The company has a market cap of $64.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.11, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,892,280. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.