Marshall Wace LLP Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 1,833.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 305,920 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 290,098 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.12% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $86,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research 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, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $315.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total transaction of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $9.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $328.72. 155,000 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,259,165. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.42 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $306.31. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $232.27 and a twelve month high of $350.70.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. Research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.65 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.88%.

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.