Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Has $4.98 Million Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,250 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 81.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings 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. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,501,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705,570 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 170.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,931,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,071 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BRO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.33.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $65.22 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.13. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.29 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The business’s revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

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.