Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG Shares Purchased by VCI Wealth Management LLC

VCI Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $2,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 507.1% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $236,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.6% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,470,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 108,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,332,000 after buying an additional 10,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total value of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total value of $3,825,648.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE AJG opened at $279.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.64 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $275.56 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $299.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $313.37.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.93%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.