Fmr LLC Sells 346,298 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

FMR LLC cut its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,959,180 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 346,298 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 4.79% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $3,394,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $313.33.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG traded up $7.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $333.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 427,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,252,897. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $85.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.88 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $328.63 and a 200-day moving average of $303.78. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $350.70.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s payout ratio is 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total transaction of $760,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,031,487.89. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

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