Kennedy Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 138,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,530 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $14,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $313,412,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at $198,031,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,335,964 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 11,337.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.25.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $116.48 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.38. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $80.33 and a one year high of $125.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

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

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

Brown & Brown 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.