760 Shares in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Acquired by Truepoint Inc.

Truepoint Inc. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AJG. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 2.5 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $334.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $85.29 billion, a PE ratio of 51.36 and a beta of 0.75. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $345.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $316.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.93.

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.