D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 828 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BRO opened at $113.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $106.73 and a 200 day moving average of $99.48. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $114.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.35%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.