GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Has $198,000 Stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC reduced its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 77.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,699 shares during the quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth $9,877,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,299,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,205 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 65,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,398,000 after purchasing an additional 6,090 shares in the last quarter. Cincinnati Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter worth $42,824,000. Finally, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 241.4% in the 3rd quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 49,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,332,000 after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AJG. Citigroup upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $204.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $211.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.49. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $190.75 and a 1-year high of $351.23. The stock has a market cap of $52.64 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.54.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The business had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 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.