Bank of Nova Scotia Makes New $2.37 Million Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 37,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,374,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BRO. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.7%

BRO stock opened at $72.79 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.59. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $97.49.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 20.82%.

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.