National Pension Service Buys 8,642 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

National Pension Service boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 391,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,642 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $88,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,202,742,000 after buying an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,345,000 after acquiring an additional 34,999 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,139,872,000 after purchasing an additional 90,842 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,610,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,249,000 after buying an additional 13,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,572,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $586,277,000 after acquiring an additional 88,861 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 96,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,666,597.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total value of $308,026.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $253.00 to $252.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.31.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AJG traded up $2.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $247.03. 224,627 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 853,297. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $198.52 and a 52 week high of $256.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $243.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.27. The company has a market cap of $53.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.63, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 48.58%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.