Credit Agricole S A Increases Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Credit Agricole S A lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 830.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 341,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 304,990 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A owned 0.13% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $117,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.17, for a total transaction of $3,540,285.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 91,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,741,474.75. The trade was a 10.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of 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. 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 lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $331.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:AJG opened at $294.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.55 billion, a PE ratio of 41.86 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $274.25 and a 52-week high of $351.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly 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 for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 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.