Natixis Advisors LLC Has $85.88 Million Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 841,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 62,334 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $85,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,901,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,316,259,000 after buying an additional 94,121 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,466,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,537,000 after buying an additional 371,980 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth approximately $198,031,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,394,000 after buying an additional 40,881 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 42.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,109,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $114,979,000 after buying an additional 330,661 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $118.21 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $109.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.18. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.33 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company has a market cap of $33.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

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.