Natixis Advisors L.P. Boosts Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,056 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 42,337 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned about 0.06% of Brown & Brown worth $11,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 11,559 shares during the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,765,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 358,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,519,000 after buying an additional 127,903 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 162,226 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,536,000 after buying an additional 17,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 107,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,658,000 after acquiring an additional 12,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BRO traded down $0.43 on Wednesday, hitting $84.81. 949,560 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,892. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.71 and a twelve month high of $87.99. The company's 50 day moving average price is $84.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 16.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BRO. Bank of America lowered Brown & Brown from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $87.30.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.