Swiss National Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 705,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $200,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $940,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 5,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,054,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,533 shares in the company, valued at $5,031,487.89. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial increased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $322.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $82.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.52 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $345.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $311.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.84.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 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 represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 39.88%.

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.