Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $308.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. traded as high as $301.43 and last traded at $300.85, with a volume of 239841 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $295.88.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on AJG. TD Cowen upped their target price on 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. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $254.00 to $293.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.68, for a total value of $1,992,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,625,146.84. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,211,438. This trade represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $6,892,280. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 15.7% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,450,000 after acquiring an additional 14,860 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the third quarter worth $749,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 29.9% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 161,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,756,000 after purchasing an additional 37,070 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $3,297,000. Finally, Marsico Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 316.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marsico Capital Management LLC now owns 11,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,968,000 after buying an additional 8,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $288.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.31. The company has a market cap of $66.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.77, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS. Analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

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.