Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $316.3333.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $247.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $275.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.07. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $239.47 and a 1 year high of $351.23. The stock has a market cap of $63.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18 and a beta of 0.71.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.19). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Robert Pesch bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $247.12 per share, with a total value of $988,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president directly owned 41,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,341,724.88. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.00, for a total value of $1,566,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,224,348. The trade was a 10.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,105 shares of company stock worth $10,796,353. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 5.8% in the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 51.3% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at about $342,000. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,467,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.