BlackRock Inc. Takes $1.42 Billion Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,113,344 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,418,571,000. BlackRock Inc. owned about 6.61% of Brown & Brown as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BRO. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BRO. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.80.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE BRO opened at $72.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.59. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $97.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.41 and a 200-day moving average of $65.74.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities 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, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a 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.

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