Wells Fargo & Company Increases Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $370.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $341.00 to $370.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 11.44% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 25th. TD Cowen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $310.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AJG opened at $332.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $316.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.50. The company has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $230.08 and a 12-month high of $345.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David S. Johnson sold 325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.06, for a total transaction of $104,669.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,422,812.98. This represents a 0.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 90,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. The trade was a 7.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,235 shares of company stock valued at $7,478,224. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 543.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 205.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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