Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 131.3%, acquiring 23,941 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 42,173 shares valued at $14.56 million.
• Several analysts have recently adjusted price targets for AJG, with UBS Group lowering it from $345 to $322, while Piper Sandler raised theirs from $352 to $372, indicating varying outlooks on the stock.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, reflecting a 0.9% dividend yield based on a current payout ratio of 36.93%.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 131.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,173 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 23,941 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $14,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after acquiring an additional 739,130 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,959,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,021,798,000 after buying an additional 137,354 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,364,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $816,409,000 after buying an additional 9,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.3% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,336,591 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $796,217,000 after buying an additional 7,594 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.78, for a total transaction of $899,340.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,407,849.06. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total value of $3,825,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG traded down $7.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $290.15. 427,111 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,525,655. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.22 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $300.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.61. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $274.25 and a 12-month high of $351.23.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $333.13.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.