SEB Asset Management AB Makes New $12.04 Million Investment in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 55,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,041,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dearborn Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 133,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,661,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946 shares in the last quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. now owns 78,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,302,000 after buying an additional 8,539 shares in the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,571,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 154,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,965,000 after purchasing an additional 44,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 22,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,738,000 after buying an additional 9,861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.35.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $253.77 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $222.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.35. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $190.75 and a 12-month high of $315.48. The stock has a market cap of $65.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.31%.

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

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $618,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,850,714. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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.