Legato Capital Management LLC Has $1.66 Million Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Legato Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 42.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,353 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AJG. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.6% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 47.4% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 59,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,785,000 after buying an additional 2,537 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.9% during the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 2,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Terra Nova Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the third quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC now owns 10,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AJG. Barclays upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,031,487.89. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE AJG opened at $322.03 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $292.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $324.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.44 billion, a PE ratio of 49.39 and a beta of 0.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.