Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 512 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $5,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $1,421,591,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,422,435,000 after buying an additional 3,851,661 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $568,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,441 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $163,087,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 307.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 742,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $210,829,000 after purchasing an additional 560,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.1 %

AJG stock opened at $340.59 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $345.43. The company has a market cap of $87.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.24 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $321.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.95. 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. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Sell-side 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This trade represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.