B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG – Get Rating) by 274.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,409 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AJG. Karp Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 61.6% during the 3rd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, Director Kay W. Mccurdy sold 182 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.59, for a total value of $35,779.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,112,179.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director Kay W. Mccurdy sold 182 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.59, for a total transaction of $35,779.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,112,179.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.62, for a total transaction of $189,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,508 shares in the company, valued at $8,818,846.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,933 shares of company stock worth $4,747,098 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AJG shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Thursday, January 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $215.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $215.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE AJG opened at $180.00 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $148.24 and a one year high of $202.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 18.64%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.