Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Purchases 158,557 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 25.2%, buying an additional 158,557 shares to hold 788,715 shares (about 0.23% of the company) valued at roughly $73.97 million.
• Brown & Brown beat recent EPS expectations ($0.93 vs. $0.91) with revenue up 35.7% YoY; the company has a market cap of about $23.25 billion, a P/E of 21.34, and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.165 (annualized $0.66, ~1.0% yield).
• Analyst sentiment is lukewarm: most firms rate BRO a Hold (14 Hold, 4 Buy) with an average price target of about $90.29.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 25.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 788,715 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 158,557 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned approximately 0.23% of Brown & Brown worth $73,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.9%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $68.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.77. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown's payout ratio is currently 20.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded Brown & Brown to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.29.

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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