Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 298.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 142.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $109.55 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.59. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $114.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

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.