Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $113.17.

BRO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 69.7% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after buying an additional 12,236 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.5% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 19,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.6% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 19,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,755,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 60.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,444,000 after buying an additional 10,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 48,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,997,000 after buying an additional 3,115 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $104.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.85. Brown & Brown has a 12 month low of $75.79 and a 12 month high of $114.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.34%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.