Leavell Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 22.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,187 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Motco purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $89.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 target price (down previously from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:BRO opened at $80.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.81. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $76.17 and a one year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.76%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.