Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $1.76 Million Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 274 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,409,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of 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. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $278.47.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 3.1 %

AJG opened at $282.18 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $218.63 and a fifty-two week high of $301.04. The company has a market cap of $61.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72. 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 50 day simple moving average of $285.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $262.49.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.58%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,853,685.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total transaction of $2,482,959.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,654,772.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,145 shares of company stock worth $10,629,900. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.