Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Stock

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $108.00 to $119.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of BRO traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $111.47. The company had a trading volume of 125,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,309,597. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $31.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $105.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.54. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $69.13 and a 52 week high of $114.08.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 22,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.