Welch & Forbes LLC Has $85.20 Million Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 300,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,617 shares during the period. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. comprises 1.1% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $85,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price 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 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, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $340.18 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $307.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.17 and a beta of 0.77. 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 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $345.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.