Ascent Group LLC Buys New Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Ascent Group LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. First PREMIER Bank bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $105.01 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.73 and a twelve month high of $106.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

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.