Barclays Initiates Coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $300.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on AJG. Argus increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. TD Cowen increased 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 research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $267.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $276.82.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $294.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $218.63 and a 12 month high of $298.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.28 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.40.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 48.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total transaction of $4,244,400.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 329,099 shares in the company, valued at $93,121,853.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total value of $4,244,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 329,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,121,853.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total transaction of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,654,772.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,348 shares of company stock worth $13,342,910 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% during the second quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently 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.