ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,849,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 150,004 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $147,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BRO. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $58.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.36 and a 200 day moving average of $72.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.73.

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.