Scott Hudson Sells 12,000 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Stock

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) VP Scott Hudson sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.13, for a total value of $3,169,560.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 90,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,840,902.06. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG traded down $4.42 on Friday, hitting $262.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,012,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,966,151. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $253.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $190.75 and a twelve month high of $313.55. The company has a market capitalization of $67.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 46.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 96,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,587,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 23,248.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 86,171,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,782,367,000 after buying an additional 85,802,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 94.4% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on AJG shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wolfe Research cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.28.

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.