Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Has $731,000 Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AJG. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 71,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,076,000 after purchasing an additional 12,488 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 8,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AJG shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $877,569.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total value of $3,229,900.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This represents a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $337.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $302.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.78 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $230.08 and a 12-month high of $338.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 12.70%. On average, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.