Directional Asset Management Purchases Shares of 4,911 Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Directional Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,271,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up 1.1% of Directional Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 870.0% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 97 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 668.2% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.8%

AJG opened at $219.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $243.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $56.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $195.00 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 45.53%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $262.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $292.00 target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $259.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.94.

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.