Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 18,900 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 149,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $14,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $30,000. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $32,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 39.3% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $49,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock opened at $80.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.17 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The company has a market cap of $27.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.58.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 19.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 price target (down previously from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.67.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.