3,912,149 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,912,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $433,740,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.19% of Brown & Brown as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $899,139,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $171,163,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $72,895,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 target price (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.69.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock opened at $81.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.77. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.17 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $27.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.76%.

About Brown & Brown

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.