Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Raised to $118.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $113.00 to $118.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BRO. Barclays initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock opened at $105.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.60. The company has a market capitalization of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. 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 fifty-two week low of $68.42 and a fifty-two week high of $107.67.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly 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. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 14.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 267,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,390,000 after purchasing an additional 6,613 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 12.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 276,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,169,000 after acquiring an additional 31,071 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,512,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Brown & Brown by 12.4% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 251,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,855,000 after acquiring an additional 27,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.