T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 34,951 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired an additional 34,951 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG), increasing their holdings by 28.7% to own 156,633 shares valued at approximately $54 million.
• Arthur J. Gallagher's quarterly earnings missed expectations, reporting $2.33 EPS against a consensus of $2.36, while revenues were $3.18 billion, slightly below forecasts.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, reflecting an annualized amount of $2.60, translating into a dividend yield of 0.9%.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 28.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 156,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 34,951 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $54,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,499,185,000 after purchasing an additional 739,130 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,997,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,021,798,000 after acquiring an additional 137,354 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,957,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $839,524,000 after purchasing an additional 260,533 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $816,409,000 after buying an additional 9,458 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $331.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AJG stock traded down $1.95 on Thursday, reaching $296.78. The company had a trading volume of 210,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,535,235. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $274.25 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $305.46 and a 200-day moving average of $321.89. The stock has a market cap of $76.09 billion, a PE ratio of 42.16 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.93%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.