Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.20.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $91.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $94.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $101.87 on Monday. Brown & Brown has a 12-month low of $66.73 and a 12-month high of $103.16. The company has a market cap of $29.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,121,842.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total value of $301,232.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares in the company, valued at $2,121,842.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during 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. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,144,893,000 after purchasing an additional 86,824 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Brown & Brown by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,489,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,979,000 after purchasing an additional 687,783 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $217,663,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 105.1% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,930,000 after buying an additional 1,059,711 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Brown & Brown

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.