Clarendon Private LLC Invests $474,000 in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Embree Financial Group purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 48,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,830,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,059,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two 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.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $289.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $291.74 and a 200-day moving average of $287.69. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $227.08 and a twelve month high of $316.72. The firm has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.18 and a beta of 0.76.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,626,666.10. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.