Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Increases Dividend to $0.15 Per Share

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

Brown & Brown has a dividend payout ratio of 12.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Brown & Brown to earn $4.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.0%.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.02. 1,197,980 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,320,555. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $67.06 and a fifty-two week high of $107.67.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James upped their target price 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.67.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.