Clarendon Private LLC Invests $474,000 in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,237,000 after acquiring an additional 618,362 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6,581.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 437,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $124,174,000 after buying an additional 430,917 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 323,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,130,000 after acquiring an additional 262,987 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AJG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total transaction of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,626,666.10. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.6 %

AJG opened at $289.71 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $227.08 and a one year high of $316.72. The company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.18 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $291.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.