Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stock Holdings Lifted by Creative Planning

Creative Planning raised its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 70,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,433 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $7,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $899,139,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $171,163,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,624,000 after buying an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $72,895,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after purchasing an additional 560,980 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $78.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.17 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.26.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Citigroup cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.08.

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.