Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Grows Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 982 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $242,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 30,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth $2,461,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total value of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,422,812.98. This represents a 0.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $325.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $81.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.89 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $296.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $292.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $230.08 and a 12 month high of $329.60.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase 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 is Friday, March 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.