VestGen Investment Management Sells 227 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

VestGen Investment Management decreased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 227 shares during the quarter. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. comprises 1.1% of VestGen Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. VestGen Investment Management’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake 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 worth $5,997,767,000 after buying an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $10,499,185,000 after buying an additional 739,130 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $240,665,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in 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 worth $221,268,000 after buying an additional 621,143 shares during the period. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $136,565,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $344.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was 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 owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,186,742.58. This trade represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction 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 $25,569,792. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $281.01 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $312.53. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $275.56 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The company has a market capitalization of $72.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.92 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.93%.

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.