Amundi Buys 353,797 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Amundi grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 108.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 678,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 353,797 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $69,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $117.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $33.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.78. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.33 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

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.