Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Acquired by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 546.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,981 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $15,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,117,441 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $163,087,000. Burkehill Global Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,118,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 430,917 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $310.43.

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

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total value 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. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $332.02 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $316.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.92 and a beta of 0.75. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $345.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.