Verition Fund Management LLC Purchases 1,143 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $616,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth $1,512,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 162.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 488,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,675,000 after purchasing an additional 302,240 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 31,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 6,675 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 17,934 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $102.94 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.85. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $114.15. The company has a market cap of $29.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

About Brown & Brown

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.