Mizuho Lowers Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) Price Target to $84.00

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Mizuho from $85.00 to $84.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 25.51% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BRO. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.40.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of BRO traded up $1.85 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.93. 999,651 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,385,431. Brown & Brown has a 52 week low of $63.29 and a 52 week high of $121.70. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $68.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.68. The company has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brown & Brown

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after buying an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,546,000 after buying an additional 407,006 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after buying an additional 1,821,229 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,068,284,000 after buying an additional 282,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,495,000 after buying an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently 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.