Wellington Management Group LLP Has $1.01 Billion Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 13.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,270,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 395,304 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.28% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $1,013,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 870.0% in the 3rd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 97 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.6% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Barclays upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $226.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $279.00 to $249.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $300.00 target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $207.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.67. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $195.00 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 11.84%.The company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,814.40. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 15,850 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $4,041,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 79,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,284,995. This trade represents a 16.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 32,650 shares of company stock worth $8,137,686 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.