Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One 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 $101.67.

BRO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRO. Congress Asset Management Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth about $82,445,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 105.1% in the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,711 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 76.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,000,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,236,000 after purchasing an additional 865,082 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $49,598,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 50.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,413,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,714,000 after purchasing an additional 473,982 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BRO opened at $103.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.54. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $66.73 and a 1-year high of $106.02. The stock has a market cap of $29.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The firm 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%. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

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.