Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Makes New Investment in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management Partners initiated a stake of 19,000 Arthur J. Gallagher shares in the first quarter, valued at approximately $4.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 85.53% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with 13 Buy ratings and five Holds and an average price target of $280.35. Wells Fargo, Mizuho, and Piper Sandler recently raised their targets or ratings, while Truist lowered its target and kept a Hold rating.
• Arthur J. Gallagher exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with $4.47 in EPS, while revenue rose 29% year over year to $4.71 billion. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.70, equivalent to a 1.1% annual yield.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,115,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,825,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,429,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 118,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,924,000 after buying an additional 5,947 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2,919.2% in the 2nd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 19,987 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,398,000 after buying an additional 19,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth $412,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AJG. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $235.00 to $225.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $261.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $276.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.35.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,850,714. This trade represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE AJG opened at $247.57 on Monday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $190.75 and a 12 month high of $315.48. The stock has a market cap of $63.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.06, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.50. The company's 50 day moving average is $226.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $224.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The company's revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.31%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company's core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.

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