Access Investment Management LLC Takes $1.11 Million Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,109,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,794,339,000 after buying an additional 560,980 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $899,139,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 8.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,120,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $512,545,000 after purchasing an additional 316,519 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 6.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,063,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,129,000 after purchasing an additional 181,315 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Brown & Brown by 1.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,353,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,760,000 after purchasing an additional 33,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. This represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $79.81 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $27.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.30 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.35.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 19.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.38.

About Brown & Brown

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.