Bokf Na Acquires 66 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Bokf Na raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,050,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,763,177,000 after purchasing an additional 727,325 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $1,308,316,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,832,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,208,208,000 after acquiring an additional 398,350 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,624,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,217,000 after acquiring an additional 14,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,567,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,029,000 after acquiring an additional 79,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $282.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $241.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $267.00 in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $273.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.84, for a total transaction of $219,164.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 45,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,630,646.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total transaction of $2,634,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 93,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,693,168.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 850 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.84, for a total transaction of $219,164.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,108 shares in the company, valued at $11,630,646.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,165 shares of company stock worth $13,629,049. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock traded down $3.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $280.55. The stock had a trading volume of 96,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 845,508. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $248.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $214.13 and a 52 week high of $283.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.58%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.