Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.2% during the first quarter, now holding 25,217 shares valued at approximately $8.7 million.
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. reported Q2 earnings of $2.33 EPS, which missed analysts' expectations by $0.03, alongside revenue of $3.18 billion, slightly below the forecast of $3.20 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.9%, with the payment scheduled for September 19th.

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 14.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,217 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,176 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $8,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AJG. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 34.3% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $317.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $331.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG stock traded down $0.64 on Thursday, reaching $298.09. 240,442 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,535,412. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $274.25 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The company has a market cap of $76.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $305.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $321.89.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.93%.

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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.