Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Acquired by Stonebridge Financial Group LLC

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 13.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 65,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,597 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 359.6% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 7.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 24,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 17.7% during the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 1,154,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,267,000 after purchasing an additional 173,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 6,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.47.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 2.0%

BRO stock opened at $71.80 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.32. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $98.30. The company has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 20.82%.

Brown & Brown Company 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.