Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG Shares Sold by Generate Investment Management Ltd

Key Points

• Generate Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.0%, selling 20,000 shares and leaving 30,000 shares valued at about $7.76 million at quarter-end.
• Two company VPs — Christopher E. Mead and Scott R. Hudson — sold 4,000 and 3,800 shares respectively (about $908k and $865k), reducing insider ownership to roughly 1.60%.
• Arthur J. Gallagher raised its quarterly dividend to $0.70 (from $0.65), an annualized $2.80 payout (1.4% yield), and reported Q4 EPS of $2.38 that modestly beat estimates while revenue grew 33.9% year‑over‑year.

Generate Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 40.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 20,000 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $7,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.9% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,254 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.9% during the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,076 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 24.3% during the second quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 143.0% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 260 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,384,778.72. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 1.7%

AJG stock opened at $206.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $225.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $195.00 and a 12 month high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is 45.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AJG. Evercore dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $353.00 to $334.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $278.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $279.00 to $249.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $273.82.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company's core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.

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