Wedmont Private Capital Buys New Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 28,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,944,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ICONIQ Capital LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.1% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 33,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,694,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 28,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,291,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $71.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.93. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $96.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $90.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.80.

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.