William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 52,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,937,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 98,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,817,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Trust co increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 83,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,826,000 after acquiring an additional 10,167 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AJG stock opened at $326.50 on Thursday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $230.08 and a 1-year high of $345.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $315.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.94. The firm has a market cap of $83.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.08 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.88%.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. The trade was a 0.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.