Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 1,705,570 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,705,570 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $3,501,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $30,000. Motco acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $52,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $69.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.68 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The firm has a market cap of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.85 and its 200-day moving average is $84.57.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly 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. The business 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%.Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 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.