Bank of America Boosts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $117.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $108.00 to $117.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an equal weight rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Argus initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $105.33.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $104.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $106.67.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Brown & Brown by 0.5% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.0% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% during the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.