Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Raymond James upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Brown & Brown from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Sunday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $85.40.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of BRO stock opened at $83.52 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.78. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $58.05 and a fifty-two week high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.46% and a net margin of 20.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Clear Street Markets LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 93.7% in the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 166.5% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Brown & Brown

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.