Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Purchased by Schear Investment Advisers LLC

Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AJG. FMR LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,202,742,000 after buying an additional 726,485 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,431,788,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,345,000 after buying an additional 34,999 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,139,872,000 after buying an additional 90,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,609,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $880,442,000 after buying an additional 74,974 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.23.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,712,707.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total transaction of $3,825,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total transaction of $2,925,233.85. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at $76,712,707.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $1.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $235.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 427,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,839. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $244.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.61. The firm has a market cap of $51.41 billion, a PE ratio of 52.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $198.52 and a fifty-two week high of $256.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.