Royal Bank of Canada Raises Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $290.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $282.00 to $290.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

AJG has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $253.00 to $252.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an underperform rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a hold rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $263.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.3 %

AJG opened at $259.31 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $210.86 and a 12 month high of $266.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $251.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $242.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 18.94%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

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

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

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total transaction of $2,634,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 93,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,693,168.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 8,717 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total transaction of $2,240,269.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 44,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,485,587. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.45, for a total transaction of $2,634,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 93,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,693,168.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,165 shares of company stock valued at $13,629,049 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,611,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $402,206,000 after purchasing an additional 38,886 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 113.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,482,000 after purchasing an additional 7,415 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 165.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 54,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,615,000 after buying an additional 33,972 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 25,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,291,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,297,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.