Barr E S & Co. Purchases 57,971 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Barr E S & Co. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 362,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 57,971 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown accounts for 1.5% of Barr E S & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Barr E S & Co.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $28,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Triad Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,314,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,420,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,258,000 after purchasing an additional 51,959 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 69.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,385,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,919,000 after buying an additional 569,037 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,501,264,000 after buying an additional 1,705,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 48,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,558,000 after buying an additional 14,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.73.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $56.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $19.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.94. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 21.22%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

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.