AGF Management Ltd. Boosts Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 212.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,764 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $568,619,000 after buying an additional 1,117,441 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $163,087,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,174,000 after purchasing an additional 430,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $325.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $345.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $312.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $298.11. The company has a market capitalization of $82.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.90 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 25th. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.93.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction 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 represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.