Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Raises Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 13,233.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,700 shares during the quarter. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. makes up 2.8% of Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $11,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.2% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 2,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 36.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 198,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,815,000 after purchasing an additional 53,106 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.9% during the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 3,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $985,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 17.9% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 9,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on 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. Barclays increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $325.35 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $345.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $312.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $298.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.87 billion, a PE ratio of 49.90 and a beta of 0.75.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business 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 a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.