Bank of America Boosts Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $255.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $233.00 to $255.00 in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $253.00 to $252.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Argus upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $255.00 target price (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $255.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $252.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $244.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.82. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $198.52 and a 12-month high of $259.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $55.08 billion, a PE ratio of 51.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.69.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.24, for a total transaction of $205,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 44,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,496,312.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.24, for a total transaction of $205,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 44,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,496,312.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 $24,666,597.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,069 shares of company stock worth $12,946,945 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,108,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 51,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,751,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at $120,000. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 771,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $175,886,000 after purchasing an additional 20,841 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.