Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Sells 460 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 460 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $2,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $568,619,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,441 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at about $163,087,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $124,174,000 after acquiring an additional 430,917 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AJG opened at $341.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.30 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $230.08 and a one year high of $345.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $306.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.31.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $344.00 to $341.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded 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 note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given 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 $307.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. This represents a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.