Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Grows Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 24.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 496,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 98,547 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. First National Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 31,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,265,000 after acquiring an additional 7,834 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dundas Partners LLP now owns 444,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,638,000 after purchasing an additional 6,943 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 11,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth about $458,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $280,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $89.35 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.71 and a 52-week high of $91.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $85.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.