Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Sold by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lessened its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,704 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $5,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after acquiring an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,513,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47,656 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,044,000 after purchasing an additional 79,429 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position 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 buying an additional 383,130 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $568,619,000 after buying an additional 1,117,441 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AJG. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $325.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $82.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.89 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.51. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $329.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $293.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. The trade was a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total value of $3,229,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, 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 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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.