Empowered Funds LLC Grows Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 19,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at $204,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.9% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 152,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares in the last quarter. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 220.5% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 62,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,430,000 after buying an additional 42,677 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 167,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE BRO opened at $109.61 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.54. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $114.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.