Milford Funds Ltd. Buys New Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Milford Funds Ltd. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 432,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $111,820,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up approximately 2.2% of Milford Funds Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 1,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 97.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,726,000 after buying an additional 7,104 shares in the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,244,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rench Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 51,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,242,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $618,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG stock opened at $218.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $56.14 billion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.52. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $210.97 and a 200-day moving average of $228.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $190.75 and a 12-month high of $327.34.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AJG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $235.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $262.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $278.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $263.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.