Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 9,394 Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 9,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,113,000. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. comprises 1.3% of Trueblood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 175.6% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 460.9% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the third quarter worth about $45,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.6 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $247.79. 862,319 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 888,457. The business has a fifty day moving average of $242.38 and a 200 day moving average of $237.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $54.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.81, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $185.43 and a 12-month high of $256.10.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total transaction of $117,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total transaction of $117,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 12,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.65, for a total value of $2,925,233.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 322,797 shares in the company, valued at $76,712,707.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AJG has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $246.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.77.

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.