Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Upgraded to “Buy” at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. TD Cowen currently has $377.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $295.00.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 0.2 %

AJG opened at $286.09 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $291.69 and a 200-day moving average of $285.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1-year low of $227.08 and a 1-year high of $316.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 19.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

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

In related news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,626,666.10. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total value of $803,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,438. The trade was a 16.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 219.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,043,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,660,000 after acquiring an additional 717,221 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 231.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 885,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,237,000 after purchasing an additional 618,362 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after buying an additional 580,134 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 431.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 323,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,130,000 after buying an additional 262,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.