Golden State Equity Partners Cuts Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Golden State Equity Partners decreased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,998 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased 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 worth $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 142.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’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 value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BRO. 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 report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.8 %

BRO stock opened at $105.84 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.42 and a 52 week high of $107.67. The company has a market capitalization of $30.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.60. 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 (NYSE:BRO) last released its 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. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 14.94%.

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.