Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.4286.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 price target (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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 research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,425,546,000 after buying an additional 407,006 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after buying an additional 1,821,229 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,068,284,000 after buying an additional 282,988 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,495,000 after buying an additional 118,225 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $71.02 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown has a one year low of $65.68 and a one year high of $125.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.35 and a 200 day moving average of $82.36. The company has a market capitalization of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.79. 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 (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 business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 20.63%.

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.