Wells Fargo & Company Increases Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $85.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target raised by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 3.54% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on BRO. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.10.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $82.09. 221,360 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,325,693. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.78. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $60.00 and a 1-year high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 166.5% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 174.0% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, First PREMIER Bank acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.