Brown & Brown Adds Herronpalmer, Ramps Up Advisory Services

Brown & Brown, Inc ( (NYSE:BRO) ) via its subsidiary, Pacific Resources Benefit Advisors, LLC, closed the buyout of all the assets of herronpalmer LLC. The financials of the deal are kept under wraps.

The acquisition of Herron Palmer is likely to enhance the company’s ability to deliver advisory and employee benefit services across various markets. This deal will help Pacific Resources expand its foothold and enhance its employee benefit program administration. As a result, the company will be able to cater to more clients who use data-driven insights to augment their advisory services.

In June 2017, Brown & Brown had purchased the assets of TriCoast Insurance Services, LLC, to offer high quality insurance products to its agents and insurers.

The decision to acquire herronpalmer will complement the previous acquisition and help the company to strengthen its foothold in the third-party administration market. It will also enable the acquirer to merge the resources and best practices of both the organizations.

Herron Palmer has annual revenues worth $3.5 million. The assets of Herron Palmer will operate under Barrett Brown, Regional President of Brown & Brown, Inc. The founders of Heron Palmer Felicia Palmer and Tony Heron along with the Heron Palmer team will join Pacific Resources’ profit center.

Strategic acquisitions and mergers have always helped Brown & Brown spread its operations. Over a span of a little more than two decades, the company has acquired more than 460 insurance intermediary operations. The company has completed three acquisitions (excluding book of business purchase) in the six months ended Jun 30, 2017. Each of the divisions continues to deliver impressive results. The insurance broker intends to continue making investments to boost organic growth and margin expansion.

Zacks Rank and Share Price Movement

Brown & Brown carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of Brown & Brown have outperformed the industry in a year’s time. While Brown & Brown shares have gained 19.24%, the industry has registered an increase of 15.11%. Strategic acquisitions, which improve the insurer broker’s inorganic portfolio and solid cash flow are expected to drive the stock higher in the future.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance industry are Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFH) , Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) and Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) . Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Atlas Financial Holdings engages in underwriting commercial automobile insurance policies in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in two out of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 57.94%

Markel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company delivered positive surprises two out of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 21.06%

Mercury General Corporation engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 1.06%.

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