Wealthfront Advisers LLC Acquires 2,200 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs raised its position in Brown & Brown by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs now owns 10,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Curio Wealth LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 119,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 79,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,837,000 after buying an additional 1,650 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $740,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 30.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,360,000 after acquiring an additional 178,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 17.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.38.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $80.46 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $92.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.96%.

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.