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

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Brown & Brown has a consensus "Hold" from 19 analysts (15 Hold, 4 Buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $89.33.
• Earnings update: The company reported EPS of $0.93 (beat $0.91) and revenue of $1.61B (below $1.65B expected), with revenue up 35.7% YoY and a return on equity of 12.93%.
• Dividends & ownership: Brown & Brown pays a $0.165 quarterly dividend ($0.66 annual, ~1.0% yield) and about 71.0% of shares are held by institutional investors, led by Vanguard and Capital World.

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $89.3333.

BRO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus upgraded Brown & Brown to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target 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. Mizuho raised Brown & Brown from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Brown & Brown from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 28th.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $65.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $63.29 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.77.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. 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 Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,999,497,000 after buying an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,425,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,006 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,068,284,000 after acquiring an additional 282,988 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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