Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,354 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.16% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $1,021,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after buying an additional 739,130 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after buying an additional 4,815,007 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,957,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $839,524,000 after buying an additional 260,533 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $816,409,000 after buying an additional 9,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.3% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,336,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,217,000 after buying an additional 7,594 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.7%

AJG opened at $294.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.55 billion, a PE ratio of 41.86 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $274.25 and a 1-year high of $351.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $307.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS 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 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 36.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AJG. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $331.07.

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

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.17, for a total transaction of $3,540,285.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 91,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,741,474.75. The trade was a 10.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.