Zions Bancorporation N.A. Acquires 1,614 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 863.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 4,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 46,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,304,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 892,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $253,395,000 after purchasing an additional 92,990 shares during the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 69,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,747,000 after buying an additional 5,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 69,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,662,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of 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. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $336.56 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $319.90 and a 200 day moving average of $300.37. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $345.43. The company has a market cap of $85.72 billion, a PE ratio of 51.62 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,422,812.98. This represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.