Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $121.25 and last traded at $120.53, with a volume of 336001 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $118.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Bank of America boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 1.5 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $108.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.89. The stock has a market cap of $33.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.34%.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,054,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,964 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,901,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,316,259,000 after purchasing an additional 94,121 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,099,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $620,737,000 after buying an additional 118,569 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Brown & Brown by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,195,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $428,043,000 after buying an additional 566,116 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,803,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,045,000 after buying an additional 388,411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.