Swiss National Bank Sells 34,000 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 685,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $69,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $907,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 86,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,804,000 after purchasing an additional 3,754 shares in the last quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $118.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $33.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.85. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.33 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $109.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.18.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Brown & Brown 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.