Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BRO. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $120.00 target price on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.0%

BRO opened at $92.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $96.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.26. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $89.99 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.80.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. The trade was a 100.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada bought 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown 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 purchase, the director owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $457,200. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 15.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $1,929,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 104.4% in 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 period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $847,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 764,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,130,000 after buying an additional 18,677 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 172.5% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,314,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,516,000 after buying an additional 832,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.