Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Buys 12,730 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,124 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,730 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $19,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 205.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays increased 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 note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $307.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 price objective for the company. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $318.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $4,109,256.33. The trade was a 53.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total transaction of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,510 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,341 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 1.4%

AJG traded down $4.67 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $340.58. 398,663 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,325,849. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $250.72 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The stock has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.24 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average is $333.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $316.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.63%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.