Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $319.36.

AJG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th.

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

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $4,109,256.33. The trade was a 53.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,510 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,341 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AJG. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter worth $25,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $328.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $332.45 and a 200 day moving average of $316.95. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $251.42 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $84.23 billion, a PE ratio of 50.44 and a beta of 0.74.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s payout ratio is currently 37.63%.

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.

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