Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $64.51 and last traded at $64.3750, with a volume of 565562 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.33.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 4.8%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.16. The firm has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Brown & Brown

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% in 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 purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at about $516,837,000. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth about $371,654,000. 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.