Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Short Interest Update

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,110,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the March 31st total of 1,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 867,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,323,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,321,493,000 after purchasing an additional 672,404 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,202,742,000 after buying an additional 726,485 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,345,000 after buying an additional 34,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth about $1,308,316,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,139,872,000 after buying an additional 90,842 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $238.59 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $243.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $52.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.69. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $198.52 and a 52-week high of $256.10.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $255.00 target price (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.31.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.