Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $631,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BRO. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 38.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 53,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 50,344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 27.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 60.9% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 dropped 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. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set a “market outperform” rating for the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.44.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE BRO opened at $56.32 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $113.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its 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 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given 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 was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.22%.

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.