Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

Brown & Brown has a dividend payout ratio of 12.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Brown & Brown to earn $4.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.0%.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE BRO traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $106.02. 1,197,980 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,320,555. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $67.06 and a 52-week high of $107.67. The firm has a market cap of $30.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.67.

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.