Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Makes New Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 223,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,315,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BRO. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth about $35,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays upped 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 note on Tuesday, July 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.47.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $68.77 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $98.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $66.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.59.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 20.82%.

Brown & Brown Company 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.