Bank of New Hampshire Reduces Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Bank of New Hampshire lowered its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,202,742,000 after acquiring an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,345,000 after acquiring an additional 34,999 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,139,872,000 after buying an additional 90,842 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,610,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,249,000 after buying an additional 13,208 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,572,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,277,000 after buying an additional 88,861 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AJG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:AJG traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $237.05. 600,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 862,149. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $198.52 and a 52-week high of $256.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $244.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $51.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total value of $2,925,233.85. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at $76,712,707.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total transaction of $3,825,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at $24,666,597.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total value of $2,925,233.85. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at $76,712,707.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180 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.