Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Boosts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,681 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $30,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AJG. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 35.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after acquiring an additional 2,186 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 43,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,162,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 18.9% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 17,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,990,000 after buying an additional 2,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.4% in the third quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler raised 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. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $340.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.24 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $301.01. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

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

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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.