391,007 Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Purchased by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 391,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,805,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Brown & Brown as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 166.5% in the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 174.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 150.6% in the 3rd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.30.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BRO stock traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $83.50. 1,012,970 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,399,759. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.71 and a 1 year high of $87.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.43% and a net margin of 21.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.