Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Acquired by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 183,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,008 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $17,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Motco acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.4%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $69.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.57. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $65.68 and a one year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

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.