Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 46,081 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 46,081 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $54,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Motco acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $68.47 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company has a market capitalization of $23.38 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $65.68 and a one year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The business’s revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.