Swiss National Bank Lowers Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 855,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $80,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $52,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 4,369.2% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BRO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.43.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of BRO opened at $68.57 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.68 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.63%.

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.