Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stock: Third View Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stake

Third View Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 49.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,333 shares during the quarter. Third View Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BRO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,418,571,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $266,941,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $228,051,000. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $138,630,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth approximately $88,589,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $77.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.47.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock opened at $73.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $82.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.95 and its 200 day moving average is $66.74. The firm has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.29% and a net margin of 17.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.89%.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance brokerage and risk management company headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. The company helps businesses, public entities, individuals and other organizations identify, manage and transfer risk by arranging insurance coverage and providing related advisory services.

Its operations include retail insurance brokerage, national programs, wholesale brokerage and services. Brown & Brown offers property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, surety and other specialized coverage.