Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,540 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $8,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $447,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth about $401,000. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.9% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,754,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of 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. Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.33.

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

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AJG opened at $325.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $328.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.78. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $230.08 and a one year high of $350.70. The company has a market capitalization of $83.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.90 and a beta of 0.64. 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. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.