Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc decreased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $9,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Centennial Bank AR acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Motco grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 700.0% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $369.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $328.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $3,825,648.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 $30,186,742.58. This trade represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,855 shares of company stock worth $8,916,928 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $310.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.17 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $297.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $316.55. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $275.56 and a 1-year high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 36.93%.

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.