Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $69.33 and last traded at $68.93, with a volume of 1377628 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $73.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.64.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 7.0%

The company has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 20.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after acquiring an additional 303,955 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Brown & Brown by 5.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,120,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,230,602,000 after buying an additional 660,005 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

About Brown & Brown

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.