Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 2,029,331 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 83% from the previous session’s volume of 1,111,726 shares.The stock last traded at $327.21 and had previously closed at $339.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $312.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $285.00 to $315.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.93.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 4.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.66 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $307.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.94.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, analysts forecast that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.88%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.99, for a total transaction of $3,229,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,536,304.26. The trade was a 12.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.61, for a total transaction of $877,569.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,440,499.14. The trade was a 16.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,725 shares of company stock valued at $4,972,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,422,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,851,661 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,067,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,857,737,000 after purchasing an additional 305,876 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,327,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,471 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.