Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 16.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.23% of Brown & Brown worth $813,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth $899,139,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $171,163,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth $72,895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after acquiring an additional 560,980 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 66.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,169,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,540,000 after acquiring an additional 465,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BRO. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.23.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.2%

BRO stock opened at $80.02 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.17 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $27.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $89.02 and a 200 day moving average of $99.19.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.76%.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.