Madison Asset Management LLC Acquires 320,512 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,307,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 320,512 shares during the period. Brown & Brown accounts for 1.9% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $150,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 407,006 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,847,000 after buying an additional 246,172 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,068,284,000 after buying an additional 282,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,495,000 after buying an additional 118,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.5%

BRO stock opened at $68.97 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $104.25. The company has a market capitalization of $23.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.62.

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.