Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target Cut to $246.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price target trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $249.00 to $246.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $235.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Barclays raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $247.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $278.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $277.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.65.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $217.64 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $195.00 and a 52-week high of $351.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.90. The company has a market capitalization of $55.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.03. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 11.84%.The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,814.40. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $908,480.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $1,925,062,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,299,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,205 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 123.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253,498 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 9,244.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,053,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,361 shares during the period. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $269,394,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.