Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $53.50 Million Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 524,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,703 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $53,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $101.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 286,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,303,679. The stock has a market cap of $28.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.54, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $107.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.31. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.24 and a 1 year high of $114.15.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BRO shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.46.

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.