Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $105.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,611,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,328,364. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $68.42 and a 1-year high of $107.67. The company has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $104.09 and a 200-day moving average of $95.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.94%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

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.