Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stake Increased by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,463 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Motco bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 1,129.6% during the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.0%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $80.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $76.17 and a one year high of $125.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.81.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.