Blue Trust Inc. Grows Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 86.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 59,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,537 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter worth approximately $330,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 22,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,393,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,422,812.98. This represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % 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 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays boosted 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on 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, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $321.59 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $329.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.32 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.91.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

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