DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Trims Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 94,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,486 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $24,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,849,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,409,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 13,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,512,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. PFG Advisors increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 20,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 547.1% in the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 17,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,647,000 after purchasing an additional 15,150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $286.00 in a report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $267.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $276.82.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $297.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $65.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.20, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $218.63 and a fifty-two week high of $300.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $283.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.28.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,853,685.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total transaction of $4,244,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 329,099 shares in the company, valued at $93,121,853.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,448 shares of company stock worth $15,445,930 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.