Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Decreases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lessened its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 117,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,466,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,537,000 after purchasing an additional 371,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EWA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BRO. StockNews.com lowered Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $104.18 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.00. The company has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $114.15.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.35%.

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.