Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Acquired by Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 307,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,189 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $31,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Argus began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.4 %

BRO traded down $0.40 on Thursday, reaching $111.51. 17,357 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,313,496. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $114.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $31.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $105.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.59.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.35%.

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.