Employees Retirement System of Texas Trims Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 174,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $45,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,390,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,123,534,000 after acquiring an additional 217,136 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,299,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330,205 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,783,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,649,477,000 after acquiring an additional 101,298 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,891,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,373,403,000 after acquiring an additional 147,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,194,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,228,156,000 after purchasing an additional 45,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $235.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $259.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of AJG opened at $204.21 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $190.75 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The company has a market cap of $52.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $211.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.78.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were 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 owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,814.40. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.