Benjamin Edwards Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 60.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,948 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BRO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,418,571,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $516,837,000. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $371,654,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $266,941,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $228,051,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $73.32 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $97.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its 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). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 20.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.80.

About Brown & Brown

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.