Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 61.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after purchasing an additional 739,130 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,815,007 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,021,798,000 after buying an additional 137,354 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $816,409,000 after buying an additional 9,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.3% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,336,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,217,000 after acquiring an additional 7,594 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:AJG opened at $305.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $78.42 billion, a PE ratio of 43.44 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $275.56 and a 12 month high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 36.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AJG. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $344.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $330.93.

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