Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:AJG)

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 21st. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has raised its dividend by an average of 6.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a dividend payout ratio of 21.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to earn $11.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.4%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $236.75 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $51.68 billion, a PE ratio of 53.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $198.52 and a 12 month high of $256.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $244.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total transaction of $117,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 45,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.23.

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.