Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives $109.92 Average Price Target from Analysts

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.9231.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $87.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 6.72, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Brown & Brown has a 12-month low of $87.26 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $94.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.92. The company has a market capitalization of $28.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 17.29%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after purchasing an additional 5,124,203 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,940,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,609,742,000 after purchasing an additional 38,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,139 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after buying an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $899,139,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.