McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Raises Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 32,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the period. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $10,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,997,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,021,798,000 after purchasing an additional 137,354 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,409,000 after purchasing an additional 9,458 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.3% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,336,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $796,217,000 after purchasing an additional 7,594 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of AJG stock opened at $302.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $77.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $316.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $275.56 and a 1-year high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The business 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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given 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 was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 36.93%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total transaction of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total value of $3,825,648.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,569,792. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on AJG. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $344.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.43.

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.