Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $113.29 and last traded at $110.90, with a volume of 52088 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $107.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 2.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.46.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 14.17%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.