Ninety One North America Inc. Sells 597 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Ninety One North America Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 597 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,237,000 after buying an additional 618,362 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,174,000 after purchasing an additional 430,917 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% in the third 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.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG stock opened at $310.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $77.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.60 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $316.72. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $291.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.94.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Truist Financial raised 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. Bank of America raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

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.