Allstate Corp Acquires Shares of 7,738 Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $313,412,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth $198,031,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,054,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,964 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 11,337.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,108,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $71,915,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock opened at $124.53 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $113.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.52. The firm has a market cap of $35.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.33 and a 1 year high of $124.97.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.34%.

About Brown & Brown

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.