Wellington Management Group LLP Raises Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,172 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.05% of Brown & Brown worth $15,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $104.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.09. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $114.15.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.46.

About Brown & Brown

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.