Short Interest in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Increases By 22.8%

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,990,000 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the May 15th total of 3,250,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $127.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, June 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.85.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $899,139,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $313,412,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 626.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,350,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $239,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,589 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $198,031,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,054,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.8%

BRO opened at $108.01 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $88.31 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $30.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.71%.

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.