Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $91.70.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $92.46 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $90.45 and its 200-day moving average is $84.73. The company has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $66.73 and a 52-week high of $94.28.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,355,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,482,223,000 after acquiring an additional 203,105 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,718,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,113,347,000 after purchasing an additional 392,250 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,236,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $372,360,000 after purchasing an additional 29,514 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,663,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 76.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,000,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,236,000 after buying an additional 865,082 shares in the last quarter. 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.