Ellevest Inc. Sells 604 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Ellevest Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 26.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 604 shares during the quarter. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after acquiring an additional 739,130 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at $240,665,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3,142.2% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,268,000 after purchasing an additional 621,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at $136,565,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $275.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $330.00 to $277.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $340.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $361.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.73.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $248.19 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $308.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $239.47 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The firm has a market cap of $63.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.25 and a beta of 0.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

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

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

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 29,855 shares of company stock worth $8,916,928 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.