Private Trust Co. NA Has $58,000 Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Private Trust Co. NA lessened its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 85.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,071 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BRO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.7% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 22.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 18,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,314,000 after buying an additional 3,351 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,620,000 after buying an additional 8,070 shares during the period. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.4% in the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.92.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $88.81 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $86.79 and a one year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $93.72 and its 200 day moving average is $103.07. The firm has a market cap of $29.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. 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 0.7%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.29%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $457,200. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This represents a 100.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Brown & Brown

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.