Bleakley Financial Group LLC Purchases 296 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,237,000 after purchasing an additional 618,362 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after buying an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,174,000 after acquiring an additional 430,917 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 323,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,130,000 after purchasing an additional 262,987 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AJG shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of 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 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AJG stock opened at $322.42 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $230.08 and a one year high of $323.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $291.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.91. The stock has a market cap of $80.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.45 and a beta of 0.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. Analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total transaction of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.