Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Issues Earnings Results

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10, Zacks reports. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:AJG traded up $4.96 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $299.06. 1,580,493 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,923,586. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $227.43 and a 52 week high of $316.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $288.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.96 and a beta of 0.76.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AJG shares. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $285.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has an average 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.