Korea Investment CORP Invests $9.93 Million in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 154,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,926,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BRO. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $74.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $67.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.59. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $97.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 20.82%.

About Brown & Brown

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.