Madison Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,161,022 Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,161,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $138,630,000. Brown & Brown makes up approximately 1.7% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $46,226,000. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 552,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,074,000 after buying an additional 19,503 shares during the period. Barr E S & Co. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Barr E S & Co. now owns 362,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,905,000 after purchasing an additional 57,971 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 980,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,182,000 after acquiring an additional 186,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,972,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,189,000 after buying an additional 475,951 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup downgraded Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.80.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $71.62 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.81 and a 12-month high of $98.30. The company has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.74.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given 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%.

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.