Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) CAO Richard C. Cary Sells 10,000 Shares

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,536,304.26. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $324.79 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $292.59 and its 200-day moving average is $291.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.13 billion, a PE ratio of 49.81 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $325.10.

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 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 research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AJG. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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, January 31st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,421,591,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,422,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,851,661 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 162.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,822,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $801,115,000 after buying an additional 1,745,283 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $568,619,000 after buying an additional 1,117,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,277,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,779,248,000 after buying an additional 787,265 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.