Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $50,000 Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 98.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,780 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $50,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 781,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,711,000 after purchasing an additional 201,900 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 58.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.8% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 136,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,008,000 after purchasing an additional 11,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Wolfe Research set a $289.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $330.00 to $277.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $328.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Barclays downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $328.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.05, for a total value of $1,290,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 95,777 shares in the company, valued at $24,715,254.85. This trade represents a 4.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total value of $1,566,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,224,348. The trade was a 10.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,100 shares of company stock valued at $8,243,865. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $259.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $253.50 and its 200 day moving average is $285.65. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $236.34 and a one year high of $351.23. The firm has a market cap of $66.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 13.58%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.86%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.