Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Upgraded to “Market Perform” at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $73.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $80.00.

Several other brokerages have also commented on BRO. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.64.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.1%

BRO opened at $72.05 on Thursday. Brown & Brown has a one year low of $71.48 and a one year 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,109,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 1.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,166,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,925,000 after purchasing an additional 46,235 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 30.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,360,000 after purchasing an additional 178,082 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth about $1,635,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth about $6,798,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

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

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.