Brown & Brown’s (BRO) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $128.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $123.08 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $80.33 and a fifty-two week high of $123.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The company has a market cap of $35.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.57, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $112.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.14.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 275,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,540,000 after purchasing an additional 4,322 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 54,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,620,000 after buying an additional 18,869 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 11.8% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 29,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,045,000 after buying an additional 3,101 shares during the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the third quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 81.5% in the third quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 6,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 2,999 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.