Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases Shares of 652,326 Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 652,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,691,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $72.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.52 and a 200-day moving average of $65.76. The company has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $97.49.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. 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 currently 20.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $56.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays increased 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.