Barlow Wealth Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Barlow Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 88,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,437,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up about 2.6% of Barlow Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. AA Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,476,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 80.1% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 22,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,738,000 after acquiring an additional 9,861 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 2,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,814.40. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at $4,384,778.72. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2%

AJG opened at $206.73 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $195.00 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.75.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. Analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AJG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $292.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $353.00 to $334.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $298.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Barclays upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.82.

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.