California Public Employees Retirement System Has $287.04 Million Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,011,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,173 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $287,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AJG. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $803,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 160,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,656,000 after purchasing an additional 52,091 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,173,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,977,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $340.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.24 and a beta of 0.75. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $345.43. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.96.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.