275,457 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Bought by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 275,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,102,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 324.3% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 19,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 14,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,104,000 after purchasing an additional 6,805 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,394,000 after purchasing an additional 40,881 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 304,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,055,000 after purchasing an additional 50,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 168,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,225,000 after buying an additional 54,246 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $128.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 7.6 %

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $115.01 on Monday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.33 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The company has a market cap of $32.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.05.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.34%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.