Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV reduced its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,351 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE BRO opened at $110.05 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $105.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.09. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $114.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective 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. 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 objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Company 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.