Brown & Brown (BRO) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in BRO or ERIE?

71.0% of Brown & Brown shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.7% of Erie Indemnity shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Brown & Brown shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.8% of Erie Indemnity shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is BRO or ERIE a better dividend stock?

Brown & Brown pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Erie Indemnity pays an annual dividend of $5.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Brown & Brown pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Erie Indemnity pays out 45.7% 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 raised 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, BRO or ERIE?

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

Is BRO or ERIE 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 30.53% beat Brown & Brown's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brown & Brown	19.89%	15.10%	6.11%
Erie Indemnity	15.73%	30.53%	21.10%

Does the media prefer BRO or ERIE?

In the previous week, Brown & Brown had 62 more articles in the media than Erie Indemnity. MarketBeat recorded 64 mentions for Brown & Brown and 2 mentions for Erie Indemnity. Erie Indemnity's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Brown & Brown's score of 0.58 indicating that Erie Indemnity is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brown & Brown	25 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Erie Indemnity	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer BRO or ERIE?

Brown & Brown currently has a consensus price target of $112.64, indicating a potential upside of 17.08%. Given Brown & Brown's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Brown & Brown is more favorable than Erie Indemnity.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brown & Brown	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Erie Indemnity	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BRO or ERIE?

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
Brown & Brown	$4.81B	6.60	$993M	$3.47	27.73
Erie Indemnity	$3.80B	4.28	$600.31M	$11.96	29.38

Summary

Brown & Brown beats Erie Indemnity on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.