GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 70,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,569,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,166,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $461,925,000 after acquiring an additional 46,235 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,360,000 after acquiring an additional 178,082 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $1,635,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $6,798,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $79.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $79.88 and a 200-day moving average of $88.44. The company has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.17 and a 52 week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (down previously from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $114.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.67.

About Brown & Brown

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.