Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Receives $290.28 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $290.2778.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $267.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Christopher Mead sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total transaction of $899,570.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,711,755.46. This represents a 13.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Scott Hudson sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.13, for a total value of $3,169,560.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 90,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,840,902.06. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $7,310,090. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 23,248.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 86,171,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,782,367,000 after acquiring an additional 85,802,321 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,925,062,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 123.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253,498 shares during the period. Gtcr LLC bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth approximately $514,112,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth $289,484,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2%

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $262.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.75 and a fifty-two week high of $313.55. The stock has a market cap of $67.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.49, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $254.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $228.13.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 9.96%.The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 46.43%.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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.