Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AJG. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 48,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,830,000 after acquiring an additional 3,983 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 141,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,196 shares during the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Hartford Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 15,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iams Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 65.0% during the fourth quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,260,000 after buying an additional 3,138 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at $30,029,771.80. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AJG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $307.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.57.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $329.79 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $330.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $310.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $244.60 and a 12-month high of $350.70. The company has a market cap of $84.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.58 and a beta of 0.78.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 37.63%.

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