National Pension Service Decreases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

National Pension Service lowered its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 340,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,327 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.12% of Brown & Brown worth $34,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,104,000 after buying an additional 6,805 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,302,000 after buying an additional 17,934 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,832,000. Finally, EULAV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 430,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,960,000 after buying an additional 254,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. 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 raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $118.59 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.33 and a 52-week high of $118.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $106.24 and a 200 day moving average of $105.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors 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 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.