Distillate Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 72,990 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $20,718,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. accounts for about 1.0% of Distillate Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $1,421,591,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,422,435,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851,661 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $719,489,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 162.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,822,319 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $801,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,745,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $568,619,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,441 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AJG. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $315.27.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 1.0 %

AJG traded down $3.37 during trading on Thursday, reaching $329.29. 1,195,137 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,261,029. The stock has a market cap of $84.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.50 and a beta of 0.64. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $330.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $305.19. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.08 and a fifty-two week high of $350.70. 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. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 39.88%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. This represents a 16.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,235 shares of company stock worth $7,478,224 in the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.