B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys New Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 8,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,689,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 20.7% in the second quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 2,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 38,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,319,000 after buying an additional 3,482 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 54,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,454,000 after buying an additional 12,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $182,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AJG stock opened at $256.30 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $236.34 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $262.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $65.82 billion, a PE ratio of 38.31 and a beta of 0.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 13.58%.The company’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.26 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 38.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $330.00 to $277.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $275.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $353.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $361.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $311.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 6,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total value of $1,566,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,224,348. This trade represents a 10.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Robert Pesch bought 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $247.12 per share, for a total transaction of $988,480.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 41,849 shares in the company, valued at $10,341,724.88. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,071,365. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.