Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Sells 1,312 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. reduced its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,312 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $4,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,237,000 after acquiring an additional 618,362 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after acquiring an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,174,000 after acquiring an additional 430,917 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after purchasing an additional 383,130 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 323,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,130,000 after purchasing an additional 262,987 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. This represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $319.76 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $230.08 and a 1 year high of $320.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average is $291.82 and its 200 day moving average is $289.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.04 and a beta of 0.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s 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.