Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Raised to $117.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price hoisted by Bank of America from $108.00 to $117.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $105.33.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of BRO opened at $104.75 on Thursday. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $66.73 and a 52-week high of $106.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $102.88 and a 200 day moving average of $93.86. The company has a market cap of $29.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth about $36,000. First PREMIER Bank acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.