Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target Lowered to $266.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $273.00 to $266.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wolfe Research set a $289.00 price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC set a $272.00 price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $262.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $246.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $292.00 target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $219.01 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $219.35 and a 200 day moving average of $249.48. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $195.00 and a 52-week high of $351.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $56.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.53%.

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

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total value of $864,766.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,877,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,338,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,299,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,205 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 65,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,398,000 after purchasing an additional 6,090 shares during the last quarter. Cincinnati Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,824,000. Finally, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 241.4% during the 3rd quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 49,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,332,000 after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.