Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 11,945 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 180,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,945 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $16,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Motco bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1,129.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho set a $89.00 price target on Brown & Brown and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup lowered Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $80.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.64. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.17 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 19.76%.

About Brown & Brown

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.