Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $70.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on BRO. Mizuho raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of BRO opened at $66.53 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $63.29 and a 52 week high of $121.70.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 53,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 50,344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 164.5% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 832,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,771,000 after purchasing an additional 517,915 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.