New York State Teachers Retirement System Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 176,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 465 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $50,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AJG. Valley National Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 580.0% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AJG. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 note 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. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $321.59 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.61. The firm has a market cap of $80.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.32 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $230.08 and a twelve 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.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 11.4 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total transaction of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,031,487.89. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.