Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target Increased to $282.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an underperform rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of 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. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of 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, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $263.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $253.55 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $209.39 and a 12 month high of $266.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $249.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $55.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total transaction of $3,974,560.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total transaction of $3,974,560.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.00, for a total transaction of $862,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 38,314 shares in the company, valued at $9,731,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,165 shares of company stock worth $13,629,049. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,308,316,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,210.9% in 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 24.9% in 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 last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 180.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,228,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,076,000 after purchasing an additional 790,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,050,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,763,177,000 after purchasing an additional 727,325 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.