Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 26,404 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC trimmed its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 26,404 shares and leaving it with 533,477 shares valued at about $138.5 million.
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $4.47 topping estimates, while revenue rose 29% year over year to $4.71 billion.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $264.12; the company also recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.70 per share.

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 533,477 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 26,404 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.21% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $138,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Bayban bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,000. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $313,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AJG. Wall Street Zen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Monday, June 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.12.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $214.45 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $190.75 and a 1-year high of $327.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $210.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.31%.

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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