Madison Asset Management LLC Invests $16.63 Million in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 72,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,632,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,232,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth $561,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth $306,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth $289,484,000. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% during the second quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,035,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 3.7%

NYSE AJG opened at $257.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $66.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.50. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $313.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $242.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $267.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $261.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $299.00 to $296.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.28.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.