Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 54,246 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 47.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 168,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,246 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.06% of Brown & Brown worth $17,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 253,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,304,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Brown & Brown by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 41,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 9,507 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 36,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,143,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 32,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,376,000 after buying an additional 1,485 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $120.08 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.33 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.34%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.