Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,358,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 230,464 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $108,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $516,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 4.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,501,264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,570 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 170.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,931,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 1,679.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $112,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,623 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $56.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.16. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $113.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on BRO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.44.

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.