Gabelli Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,994,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalina Capital Group LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,310 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $940,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,173 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,054,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.27.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG traded up $1.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $332.11. 299,604 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,642,875. 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. has a twelve month low of $232.27 and a twelve month high of $350.70. The company has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a PE ratio of 50.94 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.48.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. This represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

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