Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Brown & Brown has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold”, with 14 analysts on hold and 5 on buy; the average 12-month price target is about $79.44.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $1.39 EPS versus the $1.36 estimate and revenue of $1.90 billion, while revenue rose 35.4% year over year.
• Brown & Brown also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 1.1%; meanwhile, a company director bought 2,000 shares in early May.

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.4375.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Argus upgraded Brown & Brown to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

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 company has a market cap of $19.61 billion, a price-to-earnings 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. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $63.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.10.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the firm's 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 purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 13.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $516,837,000. Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $371,654,000. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 132.8% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,538,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $361,725,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $1,445,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,229 shares in 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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