Dorsey Wright & Associates Increases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,807 shares during the quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BRO. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 104.4% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,109,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,360,000 after acquiring an additional 178,082 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth approximately $3,043,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 737.8% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 99,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,343,000 after acquiring an additional 87,379 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $79.97 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $88.18 and its 200 day moving average is $98.39. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.17 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The company has a market cap of $27.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 19.76%.

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.