Brown & Brown (BRO) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend BRO or ERIE?

Brown & Brown presently has a consensus price target of $118.23, suggesting a potential upside of 10.00%. Given Brown & Brown's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities 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)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Erie Indemnity	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BRO or ERIE?

Brown & Brown has higher revenue and earnings than Erie Indemnity. Erie Indemnity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brown & Brown, 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	$4.85B	6.35	$993M	$3.59	29.94
Erie Indemnity	$3.80B	4.24	$600.31M	$11.75	29.67

Does the media favor BRO or ERIE?

In the previous week, Brown & Brown had 70 more articles in the media than Erie Indemnity. MarketBeat recorded 74 mentions for Brown & Brown and 4 mentions for Erie Indemnity. Erie Indemnity's average media sentiment score of 0.64 beat Brown & Brown's score of 0.28 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	21 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	27 Neutral mention(s)	10 Negative mention(s)	8 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Erie Indemnity	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 16.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Erie Indemnity pays out 46.5% 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.

Is BRO or ERIE more profitable?

Brown & Brown has a net margin of 20.84% 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
Brown & Brown	20.84%	17.77%	6.76%
Erie Indemnity	15.73%	31.37%	21.53%

Which has more risk and volatility, BRO or ERIE?

Brown & Brown has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Erie Indemnity has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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