William Blair Weighs in on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NYSE:AJG)

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) – Research analysts at William Blair cut their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, April 15th. William Blair analyst A. Klauber now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $3.41 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $3.44. The consensus estimate for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s current full-year earnings is $10.06 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s Q2 2024 earnings at $2.23 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $2.31 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $11.24 EPS.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS.

AJG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $233.99 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $198.52 and a one year high of $256.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.08 billion, a PE ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $244.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.61.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,431,788,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,210.9% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,383,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,945 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,433,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $997,053,000 after purchasing an additional 884,394 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,202,742,000 after purchasing an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,323,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,321,493,000 after acquiring an additional 672,404 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.