Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 132,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,072 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $37,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 47.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 71,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,076,000 after purchasing an additional 12,488 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,145,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. The trade was a 0.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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 dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $333.19 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $301.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $84.86 billion, a PE ratio of 51.10 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $230.08 and a twelve month high of $334.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

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.