Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Holdings Lowered by Patton Fund Management Inc.

Patton Fund Management Inc. reduced its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 86.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,894 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $231,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bares Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during 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 buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Motco bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $79.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.17 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.91.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BRO shares. Citigroup cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut Brown & Brown from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $89.00 target price on Brown & Brown and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.80.

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.