Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $105.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Brown & Brown has a one year low of $68.42 and a one year high of $107.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $104.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.60.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 14.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. Barclays initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Argus initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

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.