Verity & Verity LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Verity & Verity LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG – Get Rating) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 743 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $9,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,783,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,414,680,000 after buying an additional 266,711 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,232,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,668,312,000 after buying an additional 880,314 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,534,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $947,576,000 after buying an additional 300,053 shares during the last quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth $22,862,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth $435,911,000. 82.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $180.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.69. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $148.24 and a twelve month high of $202.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $190.67 and a 200 day moving average of $187.18.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 13.08%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 18,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.66, for a total transaction of $3,565,342.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 42,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,051,762.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Patrick Murphy Gallagher sold 5,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.34, for a total value of $956,356.34. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,134 shares in the company, valued at $6,462,931.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 18,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.66, for a total value of $3,565,342.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 42,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,051,762.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,933 shares of company stock worth $4,747,098. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $213.00 to $211.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $213.71.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.