Metis Global Partners LLC Buys 974 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 6.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Argus assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped 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. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $110.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $31.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.13 and a twelve month high of $114.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.98. 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 (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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%. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. 17.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.