Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 74,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,264 shares during the quarter. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. accounts for 0.8% of Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $21,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 580.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG stock opened at $341.70 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $343.21. The company has a market capitalization of $87.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.41 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $304.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $295.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. Sell-side analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,533 shares in the company, valued at $5,031,487.89. This represents a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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