IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys 3,096 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 7.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,096 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $12,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth $217,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 70.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,308 shares during the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AJG shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $254.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $241.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $287.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AJG opened at $287.35 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $218.63 and a 1 year high of $301.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $62.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 6,335 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.06, for a total transaction of $1,799,520.10. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,536,855.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 6,335 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.06, for a total value of $1,799,520.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,536,855.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total transaction of $2,103,020.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at $9,853,685.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 44,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,622,660. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.