abrdn plc Grows Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 69.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,645 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $20,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,202,742,000 after acquiring an additional 726,485 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,345,000 after acquiring an additional 34,999 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,139,872,000 after acquiring an additional 90,842 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,610,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $583,249,000 after acquiring an additional 13,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,572,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,277,000 after buying an additional 88,861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total value of $308,026.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $237.88 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $244.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $198.52 and a 12-month high of $256.10. The firm has a market cap of $51.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.58, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.