Annex Advisory Services LLC Grows Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,920 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $15,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after buying an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after acquiring an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,044,000 after purchasing an additional 79,429 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,511,000 after purchasing an additional 42,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2 %

AJG stock opened at $295.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $73.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.23 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $227.08 and a 52 week high of $316.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,626,666.10. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.