Norges Bank Takes Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,072,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $313,412,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 324.3% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 19,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 14,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,104,000 after buying an additional 6,805 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,394,000 after buying an additional 40,881 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 304,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,055,000 after buying an additional 50,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 47.3% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 168,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,225,000 after acquiring an additional 54,246 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.1 %

Brown & Brown stock opened at $122.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $113.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.31. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.33 and a 12 month high of $123.24. The stock has a market cap of $35.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 17.34%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.