Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $84.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $84.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $79.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.81. Brown & Brown has a 12 month low of $76.17 and a 12 month high of $125.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 5.4% during the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the second quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. 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.