Brown & Brown (BRO) Competitors

Erie Indemnity (NASDAQ:ERIE) and Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, dividends and risk.

Is ERIE or BRO a better dividend stock?

Erie Indemnity pays an annual dividend of $5.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Brown & Brown pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Erie Indemnity pays out 46.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brown & Brown pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Erie Indemnity has increased its dividend for 36 consecutive years. Erie Indemnity is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ERIE or BRO?

Erie Indemnity has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brown & Brown has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate ERIE or BRO?

Brown & Brown has a consensus price target of $113.23, indicating a potential upside of 20.83%. Given Brown & Brown's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brown & Brown is more favorable than Erie Indemnity.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Erie Indemnity	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Brown & Brown	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ERIE or BRO?

Brown & Brown has higher revenue and earnings than Erie Indemnity. Brown & Brown is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Erie Indemnity, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Erie Indemnity	$3.80B	4.35	$600.31M	$11.75	30.41
Brown & Brown	$4.95B	6.25	$993M	$3.47	27.01

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ERIE or BRO?

33.7% of Erie Indemnity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Brown & Brown shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.8% of Erie Indemnity shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Brown & Brown shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ERIE or BRO more profitable?

Brown & Brown has a net margin of 19.89% compared to Erie Indemnity's net margin of 15.73%. Erie Indemnity's return on equity of 31.37% beat Brown & Brown's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Erie Indemnity	15.73%	31.37%	21.53%
Brown & Brown	19.89%	15.10%	6.11%

Does the media prefer ERIE or BRO?

In the previous week, Brown & Brown had 56 more articles in the media than Erie Indemnity. MarketBeat recorded 62 mentions for Brown & Brown and 6 mentions for Erie Indemnity. Brown & Brown's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Erie Indemnity's score of -0.71 indicating that Brown & Brown is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Erie Indemnity	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Brown & Brown	27 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Brown & Brown beats Erie Indemnity on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.