Polar Capital Holdings Plc Purchases 250,000 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• Polar Capital Holdings increased its Brown & Brown stake by 37% in the fourth quarter, buying 250,000 additional shares and bringing its holding to 925,000 shares worth about $73.7 million.
• Brown & Brown’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $1.39 versus the $1.36 estimate and revenue of $1.90 billion, up 35.4% year over year.
• Analysts remain cautious overall: the stock has a consensus Hold rating with a $78.44 price target, even as several firms recently initiated or maintained more positive ratings.

Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 37.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 925,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 250,000 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned about 0.27% of Brown & Brown worth $73,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after acquiring an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,425,546,000 after purchasing an additional 407,006 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 holdings 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 position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $516,837,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE BRO opened at $59.66 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $111.10. The company has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.63. The business's fifty day moving average is $60.85 and its 200 day moving average is $69.49.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They set a "market outperform" rating for the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. 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 report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.44.

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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