Golden State Equity Partners Buys 982 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Golden State Equity Partners lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 51,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 16,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 3,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 21,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xcel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $81.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.78. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.71 and a fifty-two week high of $87.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. UBS Group raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.10.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.