Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Position Boosted by Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 25,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the third quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 166.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 2nd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One 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 MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $110.50 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.33 and a 12-month high of $114.15.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.