Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 303,955 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $2,999,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4,369.2% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $63.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.38. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.65 and a 1-year high of $113.83. The company has a market cap of $21.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued 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. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 17.94%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.54 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.63%.

Key Stories Impacting Brown & Brown

Here are the key news stories impacting Brown & Brown this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Total revenues rose 35.4% to ~$1.9B and management reported higher adjusted EBITDAC and adjusted EPS (Diluted Net Income Per Share – Adjusted $1.39); the Board declared a $0.165 quarterly cash dividend. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company reiterated strong M&A execution and integration progress (acquisitions drove most of the revenue gain), which supports longer-term scale and cross-sell potential. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call transcript and slides are available for deeper detail on segment performance, contingents and integration costs — useful if you want to dig into organic vs. acquisition-driven results. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Organic revenue was flat (0.0%) — core growth outside acquisitions did not accelerate, which raises concerns about underlying business momentum. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP diluted EPS declined (reported $1.06) even though adjusted EPS beat; total revenue slightly trailed some consensus estimates — mixed GAAP vs. adjusted results can spook short-term investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: At least one analyst piece (Seeking Alpha) moved to a Hold and lowered a price target to $58 citing slowing organic growth, sector headwinds (notably flood insurance exposure) and that the current premium valuation looks unsupported — this negative research appears to be contributing to selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Leverage rose due to acquisition-related financing and there were notable acquisition/integration costs and non-cash mark-to-market items; higher debt and integration risk add execution risk while investors reassess the company’s valuation. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus raised Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.27.

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.