Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stake Lifted by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 618.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 162,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 139,745 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $12,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 36.9% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.2%

BRO stock opened at $57.42 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $113.83. The firm has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid 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 yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.22%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BRO shares. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.73.

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.