Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Trading Down 1.7%

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)’s stock price fell 1.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $286.03 and last traded at $286.74. 164,604 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 830,023 shares. The stock had previously closed at $291.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AJG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $282.00 to $301.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $233.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price objective 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $275.38.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $62.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.27, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.09.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

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

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.07, for a total transaction of $2,482,959.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,654,772.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 6,335 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.06, for a total value of $1,799,520.10. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,536,855.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,710 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,654,772.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,348 shares of company stock worth $13,342,910 over the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.7% in the 2nd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.