44 Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

44 Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $568,619,000 after buying an additional 1,117,441 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after buying an additional 580,134 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $124,174,000 after buying an additional 430,917 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 323,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,130,000 after buying an additional 262,987 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $325.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $82.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.89 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $230.08 and a 12-month high of $329.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 lowered their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

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.