Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 450 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $907,000. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $903,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,901,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,259,000 after acquiring an additional 94,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $107.06 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.31 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.00. The company has a market cap of $30.69 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BRO. Barclays lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $122.00 target price (up previously from $116.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.85.

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.