2,000 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Bought by RBF Capital LLC

RBF Capital LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $1,512,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 162.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 488,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,675,000 after purchasing an additional 302,240 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 27.3% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 31,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 6,675 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,302,000 after purchasing an additional 17,934 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the third quarter worth $9,832,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Argus started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $110.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $107.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.37. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.13 and a 52 week high of $114.15. The stock has a market cap of $31.61 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

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.