Royal Bank of Canada Buys 173,320 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,569,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 173,320 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 1.05% of Brown & Brown worth $232,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Grove Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 116,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,401,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown by 30.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,764 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Brown & Brown by 43.2% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 161,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,558,000 after purchasing an additional 48,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Global Management LP lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 17.6% during the first quarter. Delta Global Management LP now owns 30,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,011,000 after purchasing an additional 4,607 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Brown & Brown

Here are the key news stories impacting Brown & Brown this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its price target for Brown & Brown from $81 to $86 and maintained an “outperform” rating, implying approximately 15% upside from the referenced price. The revision provides a favorable catalyst and reflects confidence in the company’s growth and acquisition integration prospects. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue increased 30.4% year over year to roughly $1.7 billion, while net income rose 24.7%. Management cited higher contingent commissions, expense leverage, recent acquisitions and Accession-related synergies as contributors to profitability. Two reported insider purchases over the past six months also provide a modest confidence signal. Brown & Brown rises after Q2 revenue jump
• Neutral Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets lifted its target from $73 to $74 but kept a “market perform” rating. The small increase indicates limited near-term upside in BMO’s view, tempering the more optimistic Mizuho upgrade. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Negative Sentiment: Brown & Brown reported adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share, narrowly missing the $1.08 consensus estimate, while revenue also fell short of expectations. Organic revenue declined 0.7%, highlighting continued dependence on acquisitions and creating concerns about underlying demand and margin performance. Brown & Brown Q2 earnings miss estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Dimensional Fund Advisors trimmed its Brown & Brown position by 0.7% in the first quarter, retaining a stake valued at approximately $111.6 million. The small reduction is unlikely to materially affect the investment case. Dimensional Fund Advisors Brown & Brown stake

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.06.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE BRO opened at $74.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $98.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.16 and its 200 day moving average is $66.50.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.82%.

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.