Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Barclays

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $108.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

BRO has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America upgraded Brown & Brown from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $100.00.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BRO opened at $103.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.83. 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 one year low of $66.73 and a one year high of $106.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.58.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Brown & Brown by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.8% during 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. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.6% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.