Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s (AJG) “Buy (B-)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reissued their buy (b-) rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AJG. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $344.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $365.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $317.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $288.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $301.75 on Wednesday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $275.56 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $77.37 billion, a PE ratio of 42.86 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $299.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $315.78.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by ($0.03). Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 36.93%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total value of $3,825,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total transaction of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 209.1% in the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.