Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “BRO”.

On February 18, 2022, there were 282,215,614 shares of our common stock outstanding, held by approximately 1,512 shareholders of record.

Sales of Unregistered Securities

In connection with certain acquisitions, the Company issued 106,586 shares of Company common stock on February 2, 2021 and 78,176 shares of Company common stock on December 1, 2021, to the owners of the businesses acquired. The issuances were made in reliance upon the following exemptions or exclusions from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”): Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act and the recipients of the shares represented that they were accredited investors and/or sophisticated investors.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Under the authorizations from the Company’s board of directors, shares may be purchased from time to time, at the Company’s discretion and subject to the availability of stock, market conditions, the trading price of the stock, alternative uses for capital, the Company’s financial performance and other potential factors. These purchases may be carried out through open market purchases, block trades, accelerated share repurchase plans of up to $100.0 million each (unless otherwise approved by the board of directors), negotiated private transactions or pursuant to any trading plan that may be adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act. On July 18, 2014, the Company’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $200.0 million of its shares of common stock, and on July 20, 2015, the Company’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $400.0 million of the Company’s outstanding common stock. On May 1, 2019, the board of directors approved an additional repurchase authorization amount of $372.5 million to bring the total available share repurchase authorization at that time to approximately $500.0 million.

During 2021, the Company repurchased 1,811,853 shares at an average price of $45.57 for a total cost of $82.6 million under the current share repurchase authorization. At December 31, 2021, the remaining amount authorized by our board of directors for share repurchases was $323.6 million. Under the authorized repurchase programs, the Company has repurchased approximately 18.5 million shares for an aggregate cost of approximately $673.9 million between 2014 and 2021.

The following table presents information with respect to our purchases of our common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2021.

(1)

Of the shares reported in this column, no shares were purchased in open market transactions and all shares reported in this column are attributable to shares withheld for taxes in connection with the vesting of restricted shares awarded under our Performance Stock Plan and 2010 Stock Incentive Plan.

Performance Graph

The following graph is a comparison of five-year cumulative total shareholder returns for our common stock as compared with the cumulative total shareholder return for the NYSE Composite Index, and a group of peer insurance broker and agency companies (Aon plc, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, Marsh & McLennan Companies, and Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company). The returns of each company have been weighted according to such companies’ respective stock market capitalizations as of December 31, 2016 for the purposes of arriving at a peer group average. The total return calculations are based upon an assumed $100 investment on December 31, 2016, with all dividends reinvested.