Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Acquired by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 532,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,250 shares during the period. Brown & Brown makes up 1.7% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $49,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth approximately $433,740,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $171,163,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho set a $89.00 price target on Brown & Brown and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.67.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $80.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.32. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.17 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.81.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 19.76%.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.