Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 21st. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has increased its dividend by an average of 6.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a dividend payout ratio of 21.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to earn $11.22 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 21.4%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:AJG opened at $236.75 on Thursday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $198.52 and a twelve month high of $256.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $244.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.94.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AJG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $246.00 to $240.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $233.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (down previously from $280.00) on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $249.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total transaction of $308,026.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 1,207 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.20, for a total value of $308,026.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,269.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.06, for a total value of $3,825,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 96,709 shares in the company, valued at $24,666,597.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $7,176,180. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.