Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives $90.43 Average Price Target from Analysts

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.2857.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, January 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $516,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares during the period. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $371,654,000. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,538,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,725,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,048 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $69.19 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.25 and a 200-day moving average of $81.38. Brown & Brown has a 1 year low of $65.68 and a 1 year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.63%.

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.