Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 310.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,955 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC's holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $4,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,513,199,000 after acquiring an additional 47,656 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,541,044,000 after acquiring an additional 79,429 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $568,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $325.05. The company had a trading volume of 447,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,728,588. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $329.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.79 billion, a PE ratio of 49.88 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $297.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $293.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AJG shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.