Brokerages Set Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) PT at $90.43

Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.2857.

Several equities analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded 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 report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.1%

BRO opened at $67.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.97. Brown & Brown has a 12 month low of $65.68 and a 12 month high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were 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 was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brown & Brown

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 38.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after buying an additional 9,264 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 189.8% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 11,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 27,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after acquiring an additional 4,075 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.