Fortress Investment Group LLC Makes New Investment in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Fortress Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 100,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,012,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up 4.5% of Fortress Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 57,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,811,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 107.2% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 9,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,184,000 after buying an additional 4,773 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Sit Investment Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 25,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,694,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 736,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,121,000 after acquiring an additional 7,257 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total transaction of $1,566,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,224,348. This represents a 10.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Robert Pesch acquired 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $247.12 per share, with a total value of $988,480.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 41,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,341,724.88. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 21,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,071,365 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AJG shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $362.00 to $344.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Barclays cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $328.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $361.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.87.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG stock opened at $255.47 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $236.34 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.19 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.19). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 38.86%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.