Polar Capital Holdings Plc Has $73.72 Million Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 37.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 925,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250,000 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $73,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 38.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,132,000 after acquiring an additional 9,264 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 53,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 50,344 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 60.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $59.66 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $111.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.85 and a 200-day moving average of $69.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.63.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.22%.

About Brown & Brown

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.