Prosperity Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total transaction of $2,396,320.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares in the company, valued at $30,186,742.58. This trade represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock worth $8,916,928 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:AJG opened at $282.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.20 and a beta of 0.73. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $275.56 and a 1-year high of $351.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $298.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 is 36.93%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.