Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Short Interest Update

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a growth of 16.3% from the May 31st total of 3,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total value of $301,232.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,597 shares in the company, valued at $2,121,842.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 174.0% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $89.64 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown has a 1 year low of $66.53 and a 1 year high of $93.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $25.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $88.27 and a 200-day moving average of $82.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.40.

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.