Morgan Stanley Cuts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $85.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.08.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.4%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $78.81 on Monday. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $76.17 and a fifty-two week high of $125.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.26.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.76%.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $899,139,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $433,740,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.