Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 14,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,017,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BRO. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp grew its position in Brown & Brown by 166.5% during the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 150.6% during the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 37.8% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $82.13 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.99. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.00 and a 12 month high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 16.82% and a net margin of 21.09%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $78.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.10.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 16.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Company 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.