Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 152,468 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 76.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 152,468 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $14,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,031,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.1% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 4,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $941,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC set a $272.00 price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $226.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $247.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $353.00 to $334.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 4.5%

NYSE:AJG opened at $217.87 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $195.00 and a one year high of $351.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $56.02 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $238.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.54.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The company’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.05, for a total value of $1,290,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 95,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,715,254.85. This represents a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,650 shares of company stock worth $8,137,686. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.