Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $289.71.

AJG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $254.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total transaction of $1,992,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,625,146.84. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $6,892,280. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $401,000. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $995,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $840,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,688,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 0.6 %

AJG opened at $304.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.76 billion, a PE ratio of 57.96, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.72. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $218.63 and a 1-year high of $308.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $288.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.18.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.