Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 577,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.20% of Brown & Brown worth $58,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 45,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 323,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,042,000 after purchasing an additional 97,054 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 441,693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,062,000 after buying an additional 10,076 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 81,733.5% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 129,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,191,000 after buying an additional 129,139 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at $313,412,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.1 %

BRO opened at $122.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $113.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.28. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.33 and a twelve month high of $123.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.