Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 47,588 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 853,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,588 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $184,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Prosperity Bancshares Inc bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AJG shares. Citigroup raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $280.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $247.57 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $315.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $63.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.06, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $226.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.22.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,850,714. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.