Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Lowered to $78.00 at Morgan Stanley

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $78.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BRO. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday. 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 report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.64.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $72.05 on Thursday. Brown & Brown has a 12-month low of $71.48 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.66.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Brown & Brown

Here are the key news stories impacting Brown & Brown this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management outlined a 2026 margin target of 32%–37% and projected $30M–$40M of synergies from the Accession integration — this supports medium‑term profit improvement and cost rationalization. Accession margin/synergy article
• Positive Sentiment: Argus upgraded BRO to a “hold” (less negative stance), which can limit downside from purely bearish analyst sentiment. Argus upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 operating EPS of $0.93 beat consensus by $0.02 but revenue missed estimates — a mixed beat that reduces some concern on profitability while leaving growth questions. Q4 earnings transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America cut its price target to $90 and lowered its long‑term earnings outlook for BRO, explicitly flagging concerns after Q4 results — this is a prominent negative signal to institutional investors. BofA outlook/target cut
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple brokerages trimmed price targets (Morgan Stanley to $78, BMO to $81, Wells Fargo to $82, Jefferies and Mizuho to ~$84) and some moved to neutral/equal‑weight — the cluster of downgrades and PT cuts increases selling pressure and helped push BRO to a 12‑month low. Analyst PT cuts (Benzinga) BofA PT to $90 New 12-month low report
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP opened an investor investigation into Brown & Brown — potential litigation and disclosure risks can increase uncertainty and weigh on the stock until resolved. Pomerantz investigation

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.