Leavell Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,355,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,482,223,000 after buying an additional 203,105 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,144,893,000 after acquiring an additional 86,824 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,915,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,638,000 after acquiring an additional 28,180 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 24.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,489,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,979,000 after purchasing an additional 687,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 105.1% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,711 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.9 %

BRO stock opened at $112.44 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $104.75 and its 200 day moving average is $96.86. The stock has a market cap of $32.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.82. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $114.08.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.35%.

Brown & Brown 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.