Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Cuts Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. reduced its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,500 shares during the quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $10,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth $203,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 88,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,147,000 after purchasing an additional 9,428 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth $388,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AJG shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at $9,853,685.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG traded down $1.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $296.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 97,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 843,126. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $218.63 and a twelve month high of $301.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

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.