Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Short Interest Update

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,590,000 shares, a growth of 15.1% from the March 15th total of 2,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,111,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,333,067. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.58. Brown & Brown has a 1-year low of $58.71 and a 1-year high of $87.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $23.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.46%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 86.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 11,559 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,765,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 162,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,536,000 after buying an additional 17,479 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 107,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,658,000 after buying an additional 12,748 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 277,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,369,000 after buying an additional 61,800 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently 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.