Professional Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. decreased its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 74,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,723 shares during the period. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. accounts for 2.9% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $21,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 67,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,893,000 after acquiring an additional 11,752 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 15.7% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,450,000 after buying an additional 14,860 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,237,000 after buying an additional 618,362 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 183,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,732,000 after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AJG. Barclays upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:AJG opened at $295.22 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $227.08 and a 1 year high of $316.72. The stock has a market cap of $73.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.23 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $286.67.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.