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

Key Points

• Brown & Brown has a consensus “Hold” rating from 19 analysts: 13 holds, four buys and two sells. The average 12-month price target is $76.47, versus a recent share price of $71.11.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company, with major holders including Vanguard, Capital World Investors, Principal Financial Group, State Street and Geode increasing their positions.
• Quarterly earnings slightly missed expectations, with EPS of $1.07 versus $1.08 expected and revenue of $1.65 billion versus $1.71 billion forecast, although revenue rose 30.4% year over year. Brown & Brown also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, yielding about 0.9% annually.

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.4667.

Several research firms have weighed in on BRO. Citigroup downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $90.00 target price on Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,425,546,000 after buying an additional 407,006 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 246,172 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 282,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $631,495,000 after acquiring an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $71.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.78 and a 200-day moving average of $66.13. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $98.30.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm's revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.82%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source