BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Purchases 37,070 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,070 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned about 0.07% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $41,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% during the 2nd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $281.93 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $285.71 and a 200-day moving average of $263.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $218.63 and a twelve month high of $301.04. The firm has a market cap of $61.60 billion, a PE ratio of 57.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total transaction of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,625,146.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total transaction of $1,992,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total value of $4,244,400.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 329,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,121,853.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,622,660 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AJG. Bank Of America (Bofa) upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $267.00 in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $301.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.93.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.