Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Lowered to $78.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on BRO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $68.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $23.38 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.38 and a 200-day moving average of $85.10. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $65.68 and a 1-year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $672,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,532,000. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 48,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 10,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 8,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $712,000 after buying an additional 1,242 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.