Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its Brown & Brown stake by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 230,464 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 1,358,086 shares valued at about $108.2 million.
• Brown & Brown reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting EPS of $1.39 versus the $1.36 estimate, while revenue rose 35.4% year over year to $1.90 billion.
• The stock has recently traded lower, but the company still has a solid balance sheet and shareholder returns, including a 1.2% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 21.22%; analysts currently rate it a consensus Hold with an average target price of $79.44.

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,358,086 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 230,464 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.40% of Brown & Brown worth $108,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the fourth 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 increased 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 buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Brown & Brown by 5.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,120,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,230,602,000 after buying an additional 660,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $631,495,000 after buying an additional 118,225 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $516,837,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.6%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $56.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $113.83. The company has a market cap of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $62.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.16.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BRO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. Mizuho cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were 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 directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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