Czech National Bank Buys 9,529 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,529 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $15,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after acquiring an additional 580,134 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,513,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,044,000 after purchasing an additional 79,429 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,511,000 after buying an additional 42,841 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,626,666.10. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $285.67 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $227.08 and a 12-month high of $316.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $291.77 and a 200 day moving average of $286.12.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to entities and individuals worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.