Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Increases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 29.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,412 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.3% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $315,000. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 39.1% during the second quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 10,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $17,241,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $101.01 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $106.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $100.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.88. The stock has a market cap of $28.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.