Piper Sandler Boosts Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $293.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $254.00 to $293.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $301.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Friday. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $241.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $282.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $276.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.94. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $218.63 and a 12 month high of $301.04. The stock has a market cap of $60.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total value of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,654,772.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total transaction of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,654,772.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 6,335 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.06, for a total value of $1,799,520.10. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,536,855.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,145 shares of company stock valued at $12,622,660 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AJG. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% during the 2nd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.