20,079 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Acquired by Avanza Fonder AB

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 20,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,048,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 14.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after buying an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,553,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,899,000 after acquiring an additional 114,688 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth approximately $17,241,000. Argent Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.4% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BRO. Argus initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $105.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $30.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.85. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.23 and a 12 month high of $114.15. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.27.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.35%.

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.