Brokerages Set Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) PT at $76.80

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.80.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $72.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.89. The stock has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $96.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.82%.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.