Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $114.10 and last traded at $114.06, with a volume of 109201 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $113.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,144,893,000 after purchasing an additional 86,824 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,915,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,638,000 after purchasing an additional 28,180 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,489,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,979,000 after purchasing an additional 687,783 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,466,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,537,000 after purchasing an additional 371,980 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 105.1% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,711 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.