New Century Financial Group LLC Increases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 40.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 361,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,281,000 after acquiring an additional 28,359 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 70.4% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,000 after buying an additional 5,308 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 112,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,206,000 after buying an additional 15,528 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at about $979,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total value of $2,634,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 93,730 shares in the company, valued at $24,693,168.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total transaction of $3,974,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total value of $2,634,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 93,730 shares in the company, valued at $24,693,168.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,165 shares of company stock valued at $13,629,049. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.2 %

AJG traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $262.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 412,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,162. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $212.39 and a 1 year high of $266.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $252.52 and its 200-day moving average is $243.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.16, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.09 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AJG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $274.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $282.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $263.00.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.