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

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.2 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $106.73 and a 200-day moving average of $99.48. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.82.

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 firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,512,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 12.4% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 251,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,855,000 after buying an additional 27,879 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 162.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 488,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,675,000 after buying an additional 302,240 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 27.3% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 31,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 6,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,302,000 after buying an additional 17,934 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.