Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

BRO has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $104.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $69.13 and a fifty-two week high of $107.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.20 and a 200 day moving average of $96.00.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 14.17%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 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.