Welch & Forbes LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,478 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $67,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 36,168.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 357,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,593,000 after buying an additional 356,987 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7,923.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 298,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,122,000 after buying an additional 295,146 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 26.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,289,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,879,000 after acquiring an additional 271,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 432.5% in the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 260,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,415,000 after acquiring an additional 211,716 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AJG shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on 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. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total transaction of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 1.8 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $4.30 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $243.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 536,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 865,306. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.15. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $198.52 and a 52-week high of $256.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.19, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.