Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Shares Bought by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 351,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 31,352 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.14% of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. worth $99,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,355,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $668,552,000 after buying an additional 480,193 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 944,484 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $268,092,000 after acquiring an additional 65,231 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,241,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,415.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 140,274 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,817,000 after acquiring an additional 138,121 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 31,203 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,857,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AJG shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.33.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE AJG traded up $13.78 on Friday, reaching $331.42. 1,818,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,297,828. The company has a 50 day moving average of $330.11 and a 200 day moving average of $308.00. 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 fifty-two week low of $235.09 and a fifty-two week high of $350.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.76 billion, a PE ratio of 50.83 and a beta of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

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.