Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys 9,257 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 19.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 55,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,257 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $12,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AJG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,925,062,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 123.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,636,000 after buying an additional 3,253,498 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9,244.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,053,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $272,670,000 after buying an additional 1,042,361 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $269,394,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $227,887,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Barclays boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $292.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $278.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.53.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of AJG opened at $260.95 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $190.75 and a twelve month high of $316.71. The stock has a market cap of $67.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $217.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $618,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 47,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.