Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.65 Per Share

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 21st. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a dividend payout ratio of 17.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to earn $11.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.9%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $294.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $73.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.09 and a beta of 0.76. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $227.43 and a twelve month high of $316.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $291.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.07.

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.