Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $82.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $80.00 to $82.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BRO. Truist Financial increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Bank of America cut Brown & Brown from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Brown & Brown from a neutral rating to a buy rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $87.30.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $83.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,012,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,348,059. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $61.71 and a fifty-two week high of $87.99. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $84.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.54. The company has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Brown & Brown's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.4% in the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 46,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 149.4% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 17,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 10,457 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $1,598,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.3% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 72,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,369,000 after buying an additional 3,646 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 167,524 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,665,000 after acquiring an additional 5,298 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.