Proficio Capital Partners LLC Has $76.42 Million Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 33,892.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 269,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 268,428 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $76,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 580.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares in the company, valued at $14,422,812.98. This trade represents a 0.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 1.5 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $333.19 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $334.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.10 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $301.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.66.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.88%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.