Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Stock Price

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price raised by Barclays from $108.00 to $119.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.7 %

BRO stock traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $111.47. 125,845 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,309,597. The stock has a market cap of $31.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $69.13 and a fifty-two week high of $114.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $105.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRO. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.