Golden State Equity Partners Sells 4,998 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Golden State Equity Partners trimmed its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,998 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the second 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 last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.8 %

BRO opened at $105.84 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.42 and a twelve month high of $107.67. The firm has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

About Brown & Brown

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.