Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC reduced its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 280 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at about $313,412,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at $198,031,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,054,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,964 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 11,337.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,108,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,199 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $71,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $128.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given 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 an average target price of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BRO stock opened at $112.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $115.44 and its 200-day moving average is $109.23. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.33 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The stock has a market cap of $32.09 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

About Brown & Brown

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.