Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Increases Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AJG. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $806,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 3,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,578,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Michael Robert Pesch sold 7,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,853,685.40. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,625,146.84. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. 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 three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.14.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG opened at $294.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $64.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.12, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $288.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $218.63 and a 12 month high of $301.04.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.