Bank of Nova Scotia Makes New Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 37,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,374,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 33,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,694,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 28,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,291,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $72.79 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $97.49. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.76.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 20.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.80.

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.