Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BRO. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $99.20.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $101.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.11. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $103.16. 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 (NYSE:BRO) last posted its 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. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Wallace Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.8% during the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 19,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,755,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 19,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,748,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 69.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after acquiring an additional 12,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. 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.