Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO – Get Rating) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,456,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,979 shares during the quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.52% of Brown & Brown worth $102,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,149,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 75,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,313,000 after buying an additional 2,042 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 37,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,063,000 after buying an additional 3,010 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 179.0% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 95,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,307,000 after buying an additional 61,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 247,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,709,000 after buying an additional 20,400 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

In other news, Director Hugh M. Brown purchased 824 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.66 per share, with a total value of $49,159.84. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 49,452 shares in the company, valued at $2,950,306.32. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence L. Gellerstedt III purchased 1,670 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.99 per share, for a total transaction of $100,183.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 7,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $463,542.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BRO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 26th. UBS Group began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, April 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.11.

Shares of BRO traded up $1.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.90. 1,822,559 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,956,641. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $74.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.40.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.02. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 19.35%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 9th will be paid a $0.102 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 6th. This represents a $0.41 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 19.16%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile (Get Rating)

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Cayman Islands. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment offers property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.

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