Truist Financial Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Truist Financial reissued their buy rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $280.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on AJG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $246.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Cowen started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a market perform rating and a $249.00 price target for the company. Raymond James downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $255.77.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG opened at $250.04 on Tuesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $186.88 and a 52-week high of $256.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $242.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $237.72. The firm has a market cap of $54.58 billion, a PE ratio of 56.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 9.63%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total transaction of $3,825,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,666,597.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180 in the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,431,788,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1,210.9% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,383,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,117,000 after buying an additional 1,277,945 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,433,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $997,053,000 after buying an additional 884,394 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,202,742,000 after buying an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,323,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,321,493,000 after buying an additional 672,404 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is currently 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.