Swiss National Bank Boosts Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 851,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.25% of Brown & Brown worth $55,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 9,264 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown by 27.1% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BRO shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $66.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.92. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.81 and a 1 year high of $104.25.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The company 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%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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