Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Buys 8,973 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,973 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $25,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,202,742,000 after acquiring an additional 726,485 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,940,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,963,026,000 after acquiring an additional 262,187 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,431,788,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,345,000 after purchasing an additional 34,999 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,139,872,000 after purchasing an additional 90,842 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total value of $2,925,233.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,712,707.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $247.79 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $242.38 and its 200 day moving average is $237.56. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $185.43 and a fifty-two week high of $256.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.09 billion, a PE ratio of 55.81, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $246.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $249.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Raymond James cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.