Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 472.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 65,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,305 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 303,955 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,425,546,000 after buying an additional 407,006 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 282,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at $516,837,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 accessible through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased 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. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.62.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:BRO opened at $69.29 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $104.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $23.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.14 and its 200-day moving average is $67.19.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The firm’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 company earned $1.29 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.22%.

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.