Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 74,477 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 464,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,477 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $41,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,663,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $82,445,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 105.1% in the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,930,000 after buying an additional 1,059,711 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Brown & Brown by 76.2% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,000,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,236,000 after buying an additional 865,082 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth $49,598,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Barclays started coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $103.13 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $29.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $66.73 and a 12-month high of $106.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $99.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.28.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.00%.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.