Proficio Capital Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 10.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,183 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BRO shares. Argus started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Barclays began coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.9 %

BRO opened at $112.43 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $114.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market cap of $32.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.96.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Profile

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