Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.65

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 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has raised its dividend by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a payout ratio of 17.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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. Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AJG stock opened at $299.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.96 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $288.38. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $227.43 and a 1 year high of $316.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AJG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.