Wells Fargo & Company Increases Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $85.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $85.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 3.54% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.10.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock traded down $0.84 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $82.09. 221,360 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,325,693. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.99. The company has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.78. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $60.00 and a twelve month high of $87.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 16.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 0.3% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 51,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 16,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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.