Rathbones Group PLC Has $78.18 Million Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 23.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 980,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 186,251 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $78,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after buying an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,120,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,230,602,000 after buying an additional 660,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,802,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $217,517,000 after buying an additional 57,274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 price target (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.33.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $65.91 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. 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 1-year low of $63.29 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.42 and its 200-day moving average is $78.59.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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 payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

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.