Wellington Management Group LLP Raises Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 147,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,172 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $15,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $104.19 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.09. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $114.15. The stock has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Company 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.