Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 14,210 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 155.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,210 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Group One Trading L.P. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 6.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 37.1% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 608.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 43,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,135,000 after purchasing an additional 37,278 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $82.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $84.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.72. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.91 and a fifty-two week high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.46% and a net margin of 20.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on BRO shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 note on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.80.

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.