Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,096,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 685,278 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $9,954,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth about $240,665,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3,142.2% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,268,000 after purchasing an additional 621,143 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth about $136,565,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,286,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $789,528,000 after buying an additional 373,819 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $361.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $340.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Michael Robert Pesch bought 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $247.12 per share, for a total transaction of $988,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president directly owned 41,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,341,724.88. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total transaction of $2,396,320.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.2%

AJG stock opened at $259.06 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $239.47 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $304.26.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 38.86%.

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.