Vanguard Group Inc. Has $3.95 Billion Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,124,203 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $3,949,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.2% in the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 12.6% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.08.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $78.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.17 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.26. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

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