Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Stake Raised by Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 58.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 67,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,893,000 after buying an additional 11,752 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,450,000 after acquiring an additional 14,860 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,237,000 after purchasing an additional 618,362 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.2% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 183,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,626,666.10. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $803,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $295.65 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $227.08 and a fifty-two week high of $316.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $291.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.36. The firm has a market cap of $73.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.31 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 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.