Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 6.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 779,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,766 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $80,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,355,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,482,223,000 after acquiring an additional 203,105 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,144,893,000 after buying an additional 86,824 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,915,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,638,000 after buying an additional 28,180 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 24.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,489,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,979,000 after acquiring an additional 687,783 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 105.1% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059,711 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BRO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus began coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.5 %

BRO opened at $110.05 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $114.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.98. The company has a market cap of $31.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

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.