Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 1,077,023 Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,077,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,091,000.

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

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $73.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $69.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.80. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $97.49.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.80.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.