Ninety One North America Inc. Decreases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Ninety One North America Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 15.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 603 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 22.5% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $382,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.7% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 43,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2,750.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter worth $58,041,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $288.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $330.93.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $309.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.41 billion, a PE ratio of 44.00 and a beta of 0.72. 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 50-day moving average of $297.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $317.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $275.56 and a 12 month high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted 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 net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.93%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.