Parallel Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Parallel Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 67,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,893,000 after purchasing an additional 11,752 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,237,000 after purchasing an additional 618,362 shares during the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 48,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,830,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 183,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,732,000 after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 22,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,381,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AJG. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $326.50 on Thursday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $345.43. The stock has a market cap of $83.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.08 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $315.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.