Financial Advocates Investment Management Increases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 71.2% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE BRO opened at $104.17 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $104.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.89. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $107.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

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.