Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 324.3% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 19,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 14,740 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,104,000 after buying an additional 6,805 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,302,000 after buying an additional 17,934 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter worth $9,832,000. Finally, EULAV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 430,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,960,000 after buying an additional 254,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BRO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $118.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $106.24 and its 200 day moving average is $105.86. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.33 and a 1 year high of $118.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. On average, research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.