Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BR. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $212.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a neutral rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI reissued an outperform rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $205.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $206.67.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BR opened at $194.05 on Friday. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $140.06 and a fifty-two week high of $210.24. The stock has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.46.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.03. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 41.12%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Broadridge Financial Solutions will post 7.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Broadridge Financial Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Thomas P. Carey sold 12,731 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.02, for a total value of $2,559,185.62. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,674,169.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Douglas Richard Deschutter sold 12,200 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.71, for a total value of $2,497,462.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,648,980.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas P. Carey sold 12,731 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.02, for a total transaction of $2,559,185.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,674,169.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,483 shares of company stock valued at $9,745,637. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BR. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 1,700.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,542,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $276,194,000 after buying an additional 1,456,847 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $144,033,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 687,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,156,000 after buying an additional 381,882 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,498,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,605,000. 90.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Company Profile

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions.