Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Short Interest Down 8.1% in November
Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,490,000 shares, a decline of 8.1% from the October 31st total of 2,710,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages recently commented on BRO. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, October 6th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, September 15th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Friday, September 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.38.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on BRO
Insider Activity
In other Brown & Brown news, EVP Stephen M. Boyd sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $176,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,554,231.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.7% during the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 25,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,775,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $142,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 14.9% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 3,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.4% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,227,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,733 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 41.1% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 362,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,838,000 after acquiring an additional 105,691 shares in the last quarter. 70.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Brown & Brown Stock Performance
Shares of Brown & Brown stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.14. The company had a trading volume of 986,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,000,354. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.83. The stock has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Brown & Brown has a 12-month low of $52.82 and a 12-month high of $75.14.
Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.08% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Brown & Brown Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 31st. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 19.77%.
Brown & Brown Company Profile (Get Free Report)
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.
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Original: MarketBeat News Feed: Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Short Interest Down 8.1% in November