Summit Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BRO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $313,412,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $198,031,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 11,337.8% in the 4th 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. bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,915,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of 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 increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $124.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $80.33 and a one year high of $125.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Brown & Brown Company 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.