Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,620,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,250 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 0.57% of Brown & Brown worth $201,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,794,339,000 after purchasing an additional 560,980 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,940,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,609,742,000 after purchasing an additional 38,078 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,120,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $512,545,000 after purchasing an additional 316,519 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,882,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,065,000 after purchasing an additional 56,033 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,353,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,760,000 after purchasing an additional 33,178 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (down from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $96.6060 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.09 and a 200 day moving average of $110.10. The firm has a market cap of $31.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.78. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.29%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $457,200. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Krump acquired 2,678 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. This represents a 100.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown 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.