Invesco Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.4% in Q1, now owning approximately 1.85 million shares valued at $639 million.
• Significant investors like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Balyasny Asset Management have increased their stakes, with JPMorgan raising its position by 38.3%.
• Arthur J. Gallagher's recent earnings report showed a miss against expectations, with an EPS of $2.33 compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36.

Invesco Ltd. reduced its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,851,427 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 45,615 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.72% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $639,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,997,767,000 after buying an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,327,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,471 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,511.2% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,758,166 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $499,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649,046 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 53,148.8% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,319,505 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $374,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,027 shares during the period. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $269,658,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AJG has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $329.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the sale, the director owned 45,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total value of $4,645,755.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,109,256.33. The trade was a 53.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $290.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $312.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.59. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $274.25 and a 52 week high of $351.23. The company has a market cap of $74.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.21 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.

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