Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $226.71.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Broadridge Financial Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $246.00 price target on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Price Performance

BR stock opened at $228.09 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $228.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.36. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a 12-month low of $188.30 and a 12-month high of $237.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46 and a beta of 1.08.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a return on equity of 41.79% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Broadridge Financial Solutions will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Broadridge Financial Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadridge Financial Solutions

In related news, Director Maura A. Markus sold 3,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.02, for a total transaction of $880,837.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,308,431.76. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Douglas Richard Deschutter sold 24,185 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.21, for a total value of $5,325,778.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,137 shares in the company, valued at $5,975,838.77. This represents a 47.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,532 shares of company stock valued at $12,264,846 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Broadridge Financial Solutions

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,778,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $1,675,000. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 19,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 20,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,577,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. 90.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Broadridge Financial Solutions

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions.