Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Brown & Brown from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $89.40.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $89.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.42. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $66.53 and a 52-week high of $93.75.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares in the company, valued at $2,121,842.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. First PREMIER Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 166.5% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.