5,311 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Bought by MJP Associates Inc. ADV

MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $542,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $313,412,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 626.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,350,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $239,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,589 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at about $198,031,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,054,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 11,337.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,108,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,199 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.67.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $111.42 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.97 and a 1-year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.71%.

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.