Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 97.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 312,208 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 77,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. Avanza Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 30,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 7,949 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 7,294.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 221,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,622,000 after purchasing an additional 218,119 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $871,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.33.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $65.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $71.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.95. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $63.29 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The firm has a market cap of $22.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 (DPR) is presently 20.63%.

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.