Boston Partners Cuts Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Boston Partners cut its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 23.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 677,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 208,978 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $192,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. South Street Advisors LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. South Street Advisors LLC now owns 44,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,642,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $14,937,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 98,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $329.76 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average of $314.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $298.74. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $345.43. The company has a market cap of $83.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.58 and a beta of 0.75.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.