Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target Cut to $84.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its target price cut by Mizuho from $85.00 to $84.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BRO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.40.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $67.44 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $63.29 and a 52 week high of $121.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 20.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 81.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after acquiring an additional 7,827,992 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $516,837,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $371,654,000. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,538,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,725,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.