Moore Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 214,144 Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Moore Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 214,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,785,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up 0.7% of Moore Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Moore Capital Management LP owned 0.09% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,421,591,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,422,435,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851,661 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $719,489,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,327,403,000 after buying an additional 1,910,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 162.0% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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

In related news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,422,812.98. The trade was a 0.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $307.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.33.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $338.67 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $330.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.29. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $244.60 and a twelve month high of $350.70. The company has a market capitalization of $86.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.94 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 37.63%.

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.