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

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $290,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 175.6% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 460.9% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AJG. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 96,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG traded up $0.72 on Tuesday, reaching $238.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 111,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 863,295. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $198.52 and a 52-week high of $256.10. The company has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.50, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.