First Manhattan CO. LLC. Buys New Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 534.1% in 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 period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in Brown & Brown by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BRO shares. Edward Jones started coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.67.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $111.42 on Monday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.97 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.90.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.71%.

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.