Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases 861 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.83.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE BRO opened at $118.88 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.33 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $116.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 17.34%.

Brown & Brown 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.