Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Lowered to $104.00 at Citigroup

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target decreased by Citigroup from $112.00 to $104.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.38.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.2%

BRO opened at $80.46 on Thursday. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $79.68 and a fifty-two week high of $125.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.50 and a 200-day moving average of $101.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.96%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Bares Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Optimum Investment Advisors bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, SouthState Corp increased its position in Brown & Brown by 188.6% in the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.