Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Short Interest Down 7.1% in July

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) was the target of a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,050,000 shares, a decline of 7.1% from the June 30th total of 4,360,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on BRO shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.5% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 267,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,390,000 after acquiring an additional 6,613 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 12.7% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 276,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,169,000 after acquiring an additional 31,071 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 206.0% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 10,301 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 358,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,519,000 after acquiring an additional 127,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 107,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,658,000 after acquiring an additional 12,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.9 %

BRO stock traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $100.31. The company had a trading volume of 556,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,266,299. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $66.73 and a 52 week high of $100.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $91.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.09. The stock has a market cap of $28.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

About Brown & Brown

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.