Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,494 shares during the quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after buying an additional 560,980 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $899,139,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,120,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $512,545,000 after purchasing an additional 316,519 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,063,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,129,000 after purchasing an additional 181,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Brown & Brown by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,353,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,760,000 after purchasing an additional 33,178 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $78.51 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $90.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.98. The company has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a current ratio of 2.10. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $76.17 and a one year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 19.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.23.

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.