Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Downgraded to "Neutral" Rating by The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $119.00 target price on the financial services provider's stock, down from their previous target price of $126.00.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $138.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $116.85.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock traded up $1.19 on Tuesday, reaching $111.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,261,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,474,850. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The business's 50-day moving average price is $116.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.04. The stock has a market cap of $32.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $85.97 and a fifty-two week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. The firm's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is 16.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after buying an additional 560,980 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,940,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,609,742,000 after purchasing an additional 38,078 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $899,139,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,099,649 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $620,737,000 after purchasing an additional 118,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,195,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $428,043,000 after purchasing an additional 566,116 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.