Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Hits New 52-Week High at $299.39

Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $299.39 and last traded at $298.95, with a volume of 197935 shares. The stock had previously closed at $294.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $241.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $264.00 to $267.00 in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $276.82.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 1.7 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $279.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $65.57 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.16 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total transaction of $4,244,400.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 329,099 shares in the company, valued at $93,121,853.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, President Thomas Joseph Gallagher sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.96, for a total transaction of $4,244,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 329,099 shares in the company, valued at $93,121,853.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 8,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.74, for a total value of $2,181,530.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 36,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,560,583.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,348 shares of company stock worth $13,342,910. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth $4,661,000. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter worth about $740,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 100.8% during the second quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 3,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 61,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,943,000 after buying an additional 7,035 shares during 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, 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.