Moore Capital Management LP Buys 16,752 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Moore Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,752 shares during the quarter. Moore Capital Management LP owned about 0.06% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $44,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth $9,877,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,299,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330,205 shares during the period. Cincinnati Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth about $42,824,000. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 241.4% during the third quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 49,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,332,000 after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 35.4% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 71,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,086,000 after purchasing an additional 18,637 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research set a $289.00 price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley set a $300.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Friday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC set a $272.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $289.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG opened at $211.91 on Tuesday. 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. has a twelve month low of $195.00 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $233.91 and a 200-day moving average of $259.34.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 45.53%.

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

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,814.40. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,650 shares of company stock valued at $8,137,686. Corporate 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.