Ballentine Partners LLC Invests $234,000 in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 93.7% in the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake 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 worth $41,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BRO shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the sale, the chairman now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $85.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.39 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $83.61 and a 200-day moving average of $76.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $58.02 and a one year high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 15.46%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.99%.

Brown & Brown 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.