Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Purchased by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 315.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 374,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 284,315 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $35,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Western Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.0% in the second quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.4% during the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the second quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Freedom Day Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the third quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 18,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $68.29 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.57. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The stock has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.