Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 890.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 110,050 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $34,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $1,421,591,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,422,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,851,661 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $719,489,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,327,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 162.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,822,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $801,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745,283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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

In other news, 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 value of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.27.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $323.73 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $232.27 and a 1 year high of $350.70. The stock has a market cap of $82.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.65 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $330.60 and a 200 day moving average of $307.65. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders 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. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.88%.

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.