Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 67,350 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 51.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,350 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $12,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BRO. Triad Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $4,314,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,226,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 552,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,074,000 after buying an additional 19,503 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barr E S & Co. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Barr E S & Co. now owns 362,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,905,000 after buying an additional 57,971 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BRO. UBS Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Mizuho cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.25.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $69.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $108.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.05.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was bought 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 approximately $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 13.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.