Boston Trust Walden Corp Acquires 17,881 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 20.7% in the first quarter, buying 17,881 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 104,175 shares valued at about $6.79 million.
• Brown & Brown reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $1.39 per share versus the $1.36 estimate and revenue of $1.90 billion, up 35.4% year over year.
• Despite solid fundamentals, the stock is getting a mixed Wall Street view: analysts currently rate it “Hold” on average, while the company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.165, or a 0.9% annual yield.

Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 20.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,175 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,881 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,999,497,000 after buying an additional 303,955 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,425,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,006 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,068,284,000 after purchasing an additional 282,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth about $516,837,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.2%

BRO opened at $69.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $108.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.05.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set a "market outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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