Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,226 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $15,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 107.1% during the second quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 14,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,642,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD now owns 9,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth about $812,000. Boston Partners raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 735,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $762,473,000 after buying an additional 94,940 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE AJG opened at $252.05 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $261.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.87. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $236.34 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $64.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68 and a beta of 0.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 13.58% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.86%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total value of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.74, for a total transaction of $313,425.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 17,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,344,571.98. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,250 shares of company stock worth $6,071,365. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $330.00 to $277.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $353.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $362.00 to $344.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $310.88.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.