Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Acquired by Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,541,044,000 after purchasing an additional 79,429 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,029,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $576,004,000 after buying an additional 184,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,422,812.98. This trade represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $321.71 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $308.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.20. The firm has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.34 and a beta of 0.75. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $230.08 and a 52-week high of $345.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AJG shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.93.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.