Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 84.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,687 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 133,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,661,000 after acquiring an additional 7,946 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. now owns 78,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,302,000 after purchasing an additional 8,539 shares during the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,571,000. GuoLine Advisory Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,561,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 154,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,965,000 after purchasing an additional 44,824 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $278.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $225.00 to $276.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $254.36 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.41. The stock has a market cap of $65.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.50. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $190.75 and a 12-month high of $316.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 45.31%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.