Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $107.42.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Argus began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 652.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 259,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,854,000 after buying an additional 224,772 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,104,000 after buying an additional 6,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $113.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $106.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.20. The company has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $69.13 and a twelve month high of $114.08.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.35%.

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.