Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Purchases 28,972 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 22.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 158,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,972 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $10,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 5.4% in the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.25.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 3.7%

BRO stock opened at $69.87 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $108.75. The company has a market capitalization of $23.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

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.