Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.4375.

Several brokerages have issued reports on BRO. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus upgraded Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 407,006 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,847,000 after purchasing an additional 246,172 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $1,068,284,000 after purchasing an additional 282,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $57.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.10. The stock has a market cap of $19.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.66. Brown & Brown has a 52-week low of $53.81 and a 52-week high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

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.