Legal & General Group Plc Sells 15,825 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,825 shares and leaving it with 1,369,877 shares worth about $354.5 million.
• Several analysts adjusted their views on AJG, with targets mostly moving lower, though the stock still carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $264.
• Arthur J. Gallagher reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS estimates with $4.47 per share and posting 29% year-over-year revenue growth, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.70 per share.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,369,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 15,825 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.53% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $354,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,299,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,205 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9,244.9% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,053,636 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $272,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,361 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,107,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $962,483,000 after purchasing an additional 725,555 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,866,786 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $887,976,000 after purchasing an additional 593,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,270,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,013,100,000 after buying an additional 395,304 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $235.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $280.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $266.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $278.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.3%

AJG opened at $204.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.54. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $190.75 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $211.59 and a 200 day moving average of $231.78.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The firm's revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.31%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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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