Brokerages Set Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Target Price at $76.47

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.4667.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $71.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. Brown & Brown has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $98.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.07.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,418,571,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $516,837,000. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $371,654,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $266,941,000. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,538,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,725,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.