Argus Initiates Coverage on Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO)

Argus began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 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 report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $101.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.3 %

Brown & Brown stock opened at $102.66 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.45. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $66.73 and a 52-week high of $106.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. First PREMIER Bank bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth $45,000. 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.