Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives $79.44 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.4375.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BRO stock opened at $56.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.37. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 21.22%.

About Brown & Brown

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.