GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 57.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,186 shares during the period. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $3,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.3% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 28,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,665,000 after acquiring an additional 2,633 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 595,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,904 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $168,000. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.8% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,092,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 6,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total transaction of $1,566,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 50,668 shares in the company, valued at $13,224,348. This trade represents a 10.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Robert Pesch acquired 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was bought 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 represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,100 shares of company stock valued at $8,243,865. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AJG. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $329.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $289.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $292.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.33.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG stock opened at $256.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $236.34 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The company has a market cap of $65.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $253.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.92.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.86%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.