Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Lowered to $105.00 at Morgan Stanley

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BRO opened at $95.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. Brown & Brown has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.40. The firm has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director Paul J. Krump acquired 2,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,488.43. The trade was a 100.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 15.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,949,779,000 after purchasing an additional 5,124,203 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,940,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,609,742,000 after purchasing an additional 38,078 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,139 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $899,139,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.