4,530 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Acquired by Suncoast Equity Management

Suncoast Equity Management purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Clear Street Markets LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 166.5% during the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 150.6% during the 3rd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $78.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of BRO stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $81.50. The stock had a trading volume of 350,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,322,023. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.71 and a 52-week high of $87.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $84.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.46%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.99%.

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.