StockNews.com Downgrades Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) to Hold

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BRO. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.4 %

Brown & Brown stock opened at $104.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $104.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $69.13 and a twelve month high of $107.67.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.