Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 17.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 86,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,822 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $18,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,390,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,123,534,000 after buying an additional 217,136 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,613,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,264,359,000 after acquiring an additional 830,252 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,953,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,834,682,000 after acquiring an additional 62,518 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $1,925,062,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 123.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253,498 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,850,714. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $254.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.41. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $190.75 and a 12 month high of $316.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.35 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.31%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.