ERn Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

ERn Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspiriant LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $212,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 70.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,308 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $49,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $7,872,000. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.3% in the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $282.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $274.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $263.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $260.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $250.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.36. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $209.39 and a 12-month high of $266.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.08. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.58%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total transaction of $3,974,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total transaction of $3,974,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,395 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.00, for a total value of $862,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,731,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 53,165 shares of company stock worth $13,629,049 in the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.