West Oak Capital LLC Has $275,000 Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 28.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 580.0% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total transaction of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,626,666.10. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 research report on Friday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.2 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $286.09. 3,074,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,612,124. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $227.08 and a 52-week high of $316.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $291.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.