Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Acquired by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BRO. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $118.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $111.55 and a 200-day moving average of $107.69. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.33 and a twelve month high of $121.25. The firm has a market cap of $33.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 17.34%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.