Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to Post Q4 2024 Earnings of $2.11 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts (NYSE:AJG)

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) - Investment analysts at William Blair raised their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report issued on Monday, April 15th. William Blair analyst A. Klauber now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $2.11 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.08. The consensus estimate for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s current full-year earnings is $10.06 per share.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share.

AJG has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $255.00 target price (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $233.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $255.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock traded up $3.47 during trading on Thursday, hitting $233.99. 934,873 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 873,823. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.64. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $198.52 and a 52-week high of $256.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.68.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total value of $117,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $516,269.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.04, for a total transaction of $117,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,038 shares in the company, valued at $10,540,693.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock worth $7,176,180 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,323,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,321,493,000 after purchasing an additional 672,404 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 8.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,664,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,202,742,000 after purchasing an additional 726,485 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,431,788,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,209,557 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,415,345,000 after purchasing an additional 34,999 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,000,975 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,139,872,000 after purchasing an additional 90,842 shares during the period. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.