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

Key Points

• Brown & Brown has a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" from 19 firms, with 2 sell, 12 hold, and 5 buy ratings. The average 1-year price target is about $79.06.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.39 versus estimates of $1.36 and revenue of $1.90 billion versus $1.89 billion expected. 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 1.0%. Its payout ratio is currently 21.22%.

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.0625.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Brown & Brown from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock opened at $67.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $108.23. The business's fifty day moving average is $60.05 and its 200-day moving average is $67.51. The company has a market cap of $22.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.60.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) 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 firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid 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 Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 13.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.3% during 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 buying an additional 407,006 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,017,847,000 after buying an additional 246,172 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,068,284,000 after buying an additional 282,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $631,495,000 after buying an additional 118,225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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