Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 76,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,900 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $21,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of 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 raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $341.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.20.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $318.97 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $326.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.40. The firm has a market cap of $81.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $230.08 and a one year high of $350.70.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its 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%. Research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total transaction of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. 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.