Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Stake Raised by Summit Financial LLC

Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 365 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.6% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 105,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,649 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 18,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after buying an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 40,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,851,000 after buying an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 37,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,593,000 after buying an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 39,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,773,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. StockNews.com upgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $78.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.30.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $83.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $61.71 and a one year high of $87.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

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.