Private Trust Co. NA Lowers Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Private Trust Co. NA reduced its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% in the 2nd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total transaction of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,625,146.84. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,892,280 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of AJG stock opened at $313.13 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $289.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $218.63 and a 52 week high of $314.44. The stock has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.64, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.