ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, adding 150,004 shares to bring its total holdings to 1.85 million shares valued at about $147.4 million.
• Several analysts have turned more cautious on the stock, with multiple firms cutting price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Hold with a consensus target price of $80.73.
• Brown & Brown reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $1.90 billion, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, yielding about 1.1%.

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,849,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 150,004 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.54% of Brown & Brown worth $147,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRO. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $81.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $58.06 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.81 and a 1 year high of $113.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company's 50-day moving average is $64.36 and its 200 day moving average is $72.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Brown & Brown's quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc NYSE: BRO is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.

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