Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Hits New 12-Month High at $104.04

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $104.04 and last traded at $103.69, with a volume of 59988 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BRO. Bank of America upgraded Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.20.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRO. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. First PREMIER Bank bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth $45,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.