Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Takes $5.62 Million Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 59,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,624,000. Brown & Brown comprises about 1.6% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth about $433,740,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth approximately $171,163,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $102.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $114.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $80.75 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.17 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The stock has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.82. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $80.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.20.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The firm’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

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

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.