Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Boosts Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 42.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,388 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $4,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AJG. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,511,000 after purchasing an additional 42,841 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,611,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,206,000 after buying an additional 38,886 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,410,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $365,718,000 after buying an additional 50,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 180.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,228,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,076,000 after buying an additional 790,467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $304.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $66.76 billion, a PE ratio of 57.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $276.96. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $218.63 and a 52 week high of $308.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $254.00 to $293.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.20, for a total value of $2,103,020.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 33,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. The trade was a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.