Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Earns “Underperform” Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their underperform rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $240.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Truist Financial restated a hold rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $253.00 to $252.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen raised 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, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $263.00.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $259.31 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $56.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.49, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $251.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.59. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $210.86 and a 12-month high of $266.39.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.08. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.58%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total value of $3,974,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 8,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.00, for a total value of $2,240,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 44,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,485,587. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.41, for a total value of $3,974,560.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 80,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,109,286.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 53,165 shares of company stock valued at $13,629,049. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 361,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,281,000 after purchasing an additional 28,359 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 112,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,206,000 after acquiring an additional 15,528 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $979,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 92,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,821 shares during the last quarter. 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.