Vest Financial LLC Purchases 72,052 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 533,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,052 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.16% of Brown & Brown worth $50,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Motco purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 39.3% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $49,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.3%

BRO opened at $79.35 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.17 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.92. The company has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.81.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Mizuho set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 target price (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.67.

About Brown & Brown

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.