FORA Capital LLC Takes Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 28,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,670,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,392,000 after buying an additional 7,827,992 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,949,779,000 after acquiring an additional 5,124,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $433,740,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $171,163,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $68.29 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $65.68 and a one year high of $125.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.46 and a 200 day moving average of $81.77. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.29.

Brown & Brown 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.