Romano Brothers AND Company Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Romano Brothers AND Company cut its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 260 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $4,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 673,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,640,000 after purchasing an additional 64,864 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter worth about $210,000. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,088,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.2% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 63,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,476,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 439.7% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 7,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2 %

AJG stock opened at $295.22 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $73.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.23 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $286.85. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $227.08 and a 52 week high of $316.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total transaction of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,626,666.10. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AJG shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.07.

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.