Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Cuts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 34.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 196,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 104,393 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.08% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $55,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 58.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,018,000 after purchasing an additional 7,867 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,394,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $337.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.77 and a beta of 0.75. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $230.08 and a one year high of $345.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $318.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.11.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. The trade was a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.