Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,330,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,181 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $374,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 56,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 906.5% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 11,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,452 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth about $582,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,486.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 101,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,473,000 after acquiring an additional 94,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth about $8,020,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AJG. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.6 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $309.79 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $218.63 and a twelve month high of $316.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $292.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $67.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at $9,853,685.40. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,892,280 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.