WINTON GROUP Ltd Grows Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2,469.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,417 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $10,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 189.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 11,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 27,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,063,000 after acquiring an additional 4,075 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Mizuho upgraded Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.43.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock opened at $73.48 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.54 and a 200-day moving average of $82.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.68 and a 12 month high of $125.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.