Nykredit A S Makes New Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 63,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,077,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 17.7% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 1,154,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,267,000 after acquiring an additional 173,265 shares in the last quarter. Barr E S & Co. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Barr E S & Co. now owns 362,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,905,000 after purchasing an additional 57,971 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,573,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,634,000 after purchasing an additional 499,902 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 6,588.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 289,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,540,000 after purchasing an additional 284,692 shares during the period. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc raised its position in Brown & Brown by 924.0% in the 4th quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 57,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,577,000 after purchasing an additional 51,817 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock opened at $71.42 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.58. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $96.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.80.

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.