Morgan Stanley Cuts Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $70.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Brown & Brown from $76 to $70 and kept an "equal weight" rating, implying roughly a 4.85% upside from the prior close.
• Several other brokers have trimmed targets recently (BMO, UBS, Jefferies, Keefe Bruyette & Woods), yet the analyst consensus target remains higher at $88.80 with 4 buys and 15 holds, signalling broadly neutral sentiment.
• Shares traded near $66.76 with a market cap of about $22.7B; the company beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.93 vs. $0.91) while revenue slightly missed but rose 35.7% year-over-year.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.85% from the company's previous close.

BRO has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $88.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.76. The company had a trading volume of 374,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,454,911. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.59. The company has a market cap of $22.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Brown & Brown has a 1 year low of $63.29 and a 1 year high of $121.70.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRO. ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.4% in the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management raised its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the third quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 18,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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