Bath Savings Trust Co Buys 3,814 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $9,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AJG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,096,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,954,625,000 after purchasing an additional 685,278 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,743,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,439,207,000 after acquiring an additional 117,646 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,536,230,000. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.5% during the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,464,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,097,000 after acquiring an additional 128,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $762,473,000 after purchasing an additional 94,940 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $328.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $353.00 to $334.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $272.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $276.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.74, for a total value of $313,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 17,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,344,571.98. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Robert Pesch purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $247.12 per share, with a total value of $988,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president directly owned 41,849 shares in the company, valued at $10,341,724.88. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 15,250 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,745 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $252.86 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $236.34 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $259.26 and a 200 day moving average of $290.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.