Suncoast Equity Management Boosts Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Suncoast Equity Management grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Suncoast Equity Management’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.67.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $105.65. 181,023 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,312,124. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.56. The firm has a market cap of $30.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $107.67.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.