Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 3,541 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $8,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,511,000 after buying an additional 42,841 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,611,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,206,000 after purchasing an additional 38,886 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,410,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $365,718,000 after buying an additional 50,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 180.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,228,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,076,000 after acquiring an additional 790,467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $304.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $66.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $288.55 and its 200-day moving average is $276.96. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $218.63 and a one year high of $308.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

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

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total transaction of $2,103,020.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. This trade represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.