Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.4375.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $58.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.20 and its 200 day moving average is $68.88. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $111.10.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 21.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,314,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,501,264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,570 shares during the period. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,226,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 552,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,074,000 after purchasing an additional 19,503 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 81.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. 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.