Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG Shares Bought by Altfest L J & Co. Inc.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 456.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,951 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 870.0% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 97 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter worth $39,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.6% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AJG. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $285.00 to $283.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $226.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $246.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Mizuho raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.00.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 19,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,384,778.72. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of AJG opened at $213.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $195.00 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $218.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $248.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.53%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.