Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $72.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $72.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BRO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.47.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $65.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $63.29 and a 1-year 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,546,000 after purchasing an additional 407,006 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,229 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,068,284,000 after purchasing an additional 282,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.