Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Receives Neutral Rating from Bank of America

Bank of America reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $97.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $135.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on BRO. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.85.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $77.85 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $91.78 and a 200 day moving average of $101.07. The stock has a market cap of $26.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $457,200. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Krump acquired 2,678 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,488.43. The trade was a 100.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 104.4% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,360,000 after buying an additional 178,082 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $3,043,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 737.8% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 99,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,343,000 after buying an additional 87,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 24,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,044,000 after buying an additional 2,789 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Brown & Brown

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.