Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Stock Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $6,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AJG. FMR LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after buying an additional 47,656 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,044,000 after buying an additional 79,429 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,330,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,408,000 after acquiring an additional 31,181 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research 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 MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, Director Sherry S. Barrat sold 2,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.33, for a total value of $760,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,031,487.89. The trade was a 13.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total value of $877,569.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % 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 Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $316.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $78.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.49 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.51. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $230.08 and a 1-year high of $316.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.53 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.88%.

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.