Capula Management Ltd Invests $301,000 in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Capula Management Ltd bought a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,954 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,901,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,316,259,000 after purchasing an additional 94,121 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,099,649 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $620,737,000 after purchasing an additional 118,569 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,803,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $388,045,000 after purchasing an additional 388,411 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $313,412,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $128.00 price target on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $115.83.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.4 %

BRO stock traded up $1.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $118.88. The stock had a trading volume of 2,036,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,429,570. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $80.33 and a one year high of $125.68. The company's 50 day moving average is $116.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $33.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its 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 research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown's payout ratio is 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.