Swiss National Bank Grows Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 851,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $55,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $66.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.92. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $104.25.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.62.

Brown & Brown Company 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.