Prospector Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Prospector Partners LLC increased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 284,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 917 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown makes up 3.1% of Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Prospector Partners LLC owned about 0.10% of Brown & Brown worth $29,472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction 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 accessible through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $111.75 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $106.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.13 and a fifty-two 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.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BRO. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.42.

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.