Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $8,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,877,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,299,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,205 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.2% during the third quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 65,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,398,000 after purchasing an additional 6,090 shares in the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 133,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,661,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 241.4% during the third quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 49,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,332,000 after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $262.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $278.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $259.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $235.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.59.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $212.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $210.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $327.83.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,850,714. This trade represents a 5.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.