Lake Street Private Wealth LLC Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Lake Street Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 10.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $354,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 18.1% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Veracity Capital LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $220,000. Sendero Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $3,583,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% in the first quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 15,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,512,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AJG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.36.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE AJG opened at $327.99 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $332.75 and a 200 day moving average of $316.55. The company has a market capitalization of $84.00 billion, a PE ratio of 50.30 and a beta of 0.78. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $250.72 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 45,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,502,278.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,109,256.33. This represents a 53.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,510 shares of company stock worth $11,033,341. Company insiders own 1.60% 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.