Wells Fargo & Company Raises Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $282.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $274.00 to $282.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on AJG. Argus raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $253.00 to $252.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $263.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $259.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $210.86 and a 52 week high of $266.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.49, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $251.09 and its 200 day moving average is $242.55.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.08. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 10.27%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.03 earnings per share. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total value of $2,634,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 93,730 shares in the company, valued at $24,693,168.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 8,303 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.74, for a total value of $2,181,530.22. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 36,388 shares in the company, valued at $9,560,583.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total value of $2,634,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 93,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,693,168.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,165 shares of company stock valued at $13,629,049 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AJG. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 473.9% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.7% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 77,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 111.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.5% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 26,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,104,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 95,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,828,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.