Claro Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Claro Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 65.7% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.5 %

BRO opened at $110.05 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.09. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $114.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted 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 return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’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 SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BRO shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

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.