Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up approximately 1.1% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $15,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 22.5% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $382,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.7% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 43,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,362 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2,750.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth about $58,041,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on AJG shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $328.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’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 owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $310.95 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $297.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $316.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.56 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The company has a market capitalization of $79.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.17 and a beta of 0.73.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly 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). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 36.93%.

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.