EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 113,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,401,000. Brown & Brown comprises about 0.1% of EdgePoint Investment Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,314,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,226,000. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 552,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,074,000 after buying an additional 19,503 shares in the last quarter. Barr E S & Co. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Barr E S & Co. now owns 362,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,905,000 after buying an additional 57,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,802,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $217,517,000 after acquiring an additional 57,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Brown & Brown Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $69.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.50 and a 200-day moving average of $66.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $104.10.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 21.22%.

Brown & Brown 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.