Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target Raised to $326.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $315.00 to $326.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.36.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

NYSE:AJG opened at $328.90 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $332.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $316.95. The company has a market cap of $84.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.44 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $251.42 and a 52 week high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.63%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total value of $342,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total transaction of $2,505,260.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,510 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,341 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $1,421,591,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,997,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,815,007 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,422,435,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851,661 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $719,489,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,327,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,471 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company 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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.