Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Purchases 7,964 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 303.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,964 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $3,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,513,199,000 after buying an additional 47,656 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during 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 boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,511,000 after purchasing an additional 42,841 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on 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. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $289.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $227.08 and a 52-week high of $316.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $291.74 and a 200-day moving average of $287.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.18 and a beta of 0.76.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total transaction of $1,992,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,626,666.10. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.