Commerce Bank Raises Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Commerce Bank lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,512,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Brown & Brown by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 251,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,855,000 after purchasing an additional 27,879 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 162.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 488,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,675,000 after purchasing an additional 302,240 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 31,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 6,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Brown & Brown by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,553,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,899,000 after purchasing an additional 114,688 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $112.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $32.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.13 and a 52 week high of $114.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted 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, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Company 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.