First Manhattan CO. LLC. Sells 820 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lowered its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 820 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $10,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,815,007 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,511.2% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,758,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649,046 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,499,185,000 after acquiring an additional 739,130 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth $240,665,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3,142.2% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,268,000 after acquiring an additional 621,143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AJG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price target on the stock. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $331.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:AJG opened at $302.75 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $304.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $321.38. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $274.25 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $77.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.00 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given 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 of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.93%.

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.