Capital World Investors Buys 7,827,992 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 81.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,827,992 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned 5.12% of Brown & Brown worth $1,639,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 4.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,501,264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,570 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,229 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,139 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,166,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $461,925,000 after buying an additional 46,235 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.43.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $71.02 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.36. The company has a market cap of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.68 and a 12 month high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

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.