Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 29,820 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 395,137 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,820 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.16% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $112,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AJG. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of 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 research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. 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 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $315.27.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 2.7 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $8.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $334.60. 1,179,731 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,258,711. 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 52-week low of $230.08 and a 52-week high of $350.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.32 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $329.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $304.34.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value 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 approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.