Hartford Investment Management Co. Raises Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Hartford Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,434 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,537 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $4,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Certuity LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 864 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 13,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,487 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 2,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,396 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,667,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on AJG shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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 an average price target of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 2.1 %

AJG stock traded down $6.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $321.59. The company had a trading volume of 2,079,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,682,793. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.32 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $230.08 and a 52-week high of $329.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.95.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,422,812.98. This trade represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total value of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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