Tredje AP fonden Has $18.74 Million Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Tredje AP fonden cut its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 39.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 47,678 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $18,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 5,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $551,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,040,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 10,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,294,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $264,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $241.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $276.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total transaction of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,654,772.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total transaction of $2,103,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total value of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,654,772.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,145 shares of company stock worth $10,629,900 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE AJG opened at $295.94 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $218.63 and a one year high of $301.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $64.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $284.68 and its 200-day moving average is $262.15.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.58%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.