Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 806 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 58.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,652,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 2,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 11,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 98,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,851,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $328.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.68 billion, a PE ratio of 50.39 and a beta of 0.77. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $230.08 and a 52 week high of $331.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $298.80 and its 200-day moving average is $293.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.88%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total transaction of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,031,487.89. This trade represents a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares in the company, valued at $22,536,304.26. This trade represents a 12.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,725 shares of company stock worth $4,972,964. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.