California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 10,992 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,293,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,992 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.60% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $290,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AJG. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,202,742,000 after buying an additional 726,485 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 36,168.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 357,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,593,000 after buying an additional 356,987 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7,923.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 298,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,122,000 after purchasing an additional 295,146 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,289,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,879,000 after buying an additional 271,225 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 432.5% during the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 260,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,415,000 after purchasing an additional 211,716 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.3 %

AJG traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $238.24. 111,907 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 863,295. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $198.52 and a 12-month high of $256.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $244.42 and a 200 day moving average of $238.91. The firm has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total transaction of $2,925,233.85. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at $76,712,707.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total value of $2,925,233.85. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,712,707.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total transaction of $3,825,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at $24,666,597.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.