Calamos Advisors LLC Purchases 987 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,636 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 987 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $30,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth about $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 205.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2,750.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $372.00 to $371.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $319.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 45,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $4,109,256.33. This trade represents a 53.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $316.50. The company had a trading volume of 639,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,378,055. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $319.17. The company has a market cap of $81.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.80 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $260.83 and a 52-week high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.39% and a return on equity of 14.83%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.63%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.