Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stock Bought by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 1,101.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 106,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,790 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $7,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 7.9% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 25,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 235,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,252,000 after purchasing an additional 130,709 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 32,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 25,315 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter valued at about $541,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 3,413.4% during the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 11,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 10,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $83.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock traded down $1.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.97. 2,499,774 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,215,480. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $89.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business’s revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.82%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance brokerage and risk management company headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. The company helps businesses, public entities, individuals and other organizations identify, manage and transfer risk by arranging insurance coverage and providing related advisory services.

Its operations include retail insurance brokerage, national programs, wholesale brokerage and services. Brown & Brown offers property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, surety and other specialized coverage.