Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Upgraded to ‘Neutral’ by Bank of America

Bank of America raised the company’s shares Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO – Free Report) from a weak to neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. Bank of America now has a $101.00 price target on shares of the financial services provider, up from the previous price target of $91.00.

BRO has been the subject of several other reports. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a Neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock the same rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24. On Wednesday, May 8, StockNews.com downgraded Brown & Brown from buy to hold. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24. One stock market analyst gave the company a sell rating, five maintained it and five gave it a buy rating. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the average rating for the stock is Hold and the consensus price target is $88.80.

Check out our latest analysis for Brown & Brown

Bronze and brown trade up 1.5%

NYSE BRO shares opened Wednesday at $91.16. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $61.71 and a fifty-two week high of $91.70. The company has a debt to equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $26.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.33.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported earnings per share of $1.14 for the quarter, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The company’s revenue for the quarter was $1.26 billion, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The company’s revenues increased by 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company reported earnings per share of $0.84. Sell-side analysts expect Brown & Brown to report earnings per share of 3.61 for the current year.

Brown & Brown dividend announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6 received a dividend of $0.13. This represents a dividend of $0.52 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date for this dividend was Friday, May 3. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Buying and selling confidential information

In other Brown & Brown news, Hyatt CEO J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96 for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the sale, the CEO now directly owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Currently, company insiders own 16.43% of the shares.

Hedge funds are playing Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 11,559 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,765,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 55.4% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 358,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,519,000 after purchasing an additional 127,903 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 162,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,536,000 after acquiring an additional 17,479 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 107,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,658,000 after acquiring an additional 12,748 shares during the period. 71.01% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown company profile

(Get the free report)

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in four segments: Retail, Domestic Programs, Wholesale Brokerage and Services. The Retail Segment offers products in the field of property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, specialized insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control research and analysis, consulting and claims management services.

Further reading

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