Running Oak Capital LLC Purchases 15,954 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Running Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 127,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 15,954 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown makes up approximately 1.8% of Running Oak Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Running Oak Capital LLC's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $9,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 166.5% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 509 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 174.0% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 150.6% in the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO stock traded up $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $82.85. 1,134,301 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,352,001. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.71 and a 12 month high of $87.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $84.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRO. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Brown & Brown from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Bank of America cut shares of Brown & Brown from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $87.10.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.