Brookstone Capital Management Sells 30,910 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Brookstone Capital Management lowered its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 80.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,910 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after acquiring an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 15,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 53,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 50,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $65.91 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.59. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.29 and a fifty-two week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. Mizuho raised Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. Argus raised Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.33.

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.