Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Sold by Champlain Investment Partners LLC

Champlain Investment Partners LLC lessened its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 355,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 253,855 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $99,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,511,000 after buying an additional 42,841 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,611,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,206,000 after acquiring an additional 38,886 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,410,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $365,718,000 after acquiring an additional 50,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 180.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,228,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,076,000 after acquiring an additional 790,467 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $254.00 to $293.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $304.29 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $66.76 billion, a PE ratio of 57.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.72. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $218.63 and a twelve month high of $308.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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 transaction, the president now owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. The trade was a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.