Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Sets New 1-Year High at $103.18

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $103.18 and last traded at $103.10, with a volume of 375642 shares. The stock had previously closed at $102.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $91.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $94.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.20.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $29.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.31 and a 200 day moving average of $88.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. First PREMIER Bank bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 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.