Welch Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• Welch Group LLC reduced its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8%, resulting in ownership of 224,038 shares valued at approximately $71.7 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., with a current consensus average target of $331.43 and a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Insider transactions showed a significant decrease in ownership, with VP Scott R. Hudson and CFO Douglas K. Howell selling a total of 20,855 shares recently, reflecting a reduction in their positions.

Welch Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 224,038 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,787 shares during the period. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. comprises 3.0% of Welch Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Welch Group LLC owned 0.09% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $71,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,542 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $288.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued 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 price target of $331.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,569,792. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total value of $2,396,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock worth $8,916,928 in the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $301.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.86 and a beta of 0.73. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $299.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.45. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $275.56 and a 52-week high of $351.23.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%.The business's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share 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 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 36.93%.

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.

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