Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $78.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

BRO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $68.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $65.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.00.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The company’s revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Motco bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at about $49,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.