Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 96,404 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 745,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 96,404 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.22% of Brown & Brown worth $59,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4,369.2% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $66.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.36. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.33.

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.