Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $114.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $80.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Brown & Brown has a 1 year low of $76.17 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.85. The company has a market cap of $27.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.81.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 19.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,501,264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,570 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,120,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,230,602,000 after acquiring an additional 660,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,350 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.