HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 12.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,940 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $8,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the third quarter worth $211,000. Centiva Capital LP lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 726.0% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 20,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after buying an additional 18,418 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 7,123.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 95,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,923,000 after acquiring an additional 94,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 7,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,404 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:BRO opened at $109.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.64. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.13 and a 12-month high of $114.15. The firm has a market cap of $31.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.