Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Bought by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,628 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $15,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BRO. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 534.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 581.8% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth about $31,000. SouthState Corp boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 188.6% in the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $109.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:BRO opened at $96.16 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.38 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 17.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada bought 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.