Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Sold by Kennedy Capital Management LLC

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

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 0.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 94,121 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 11.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $313,412,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO stock opened at $116.48 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.33 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.38. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $33.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 17.81% and a net margin of 20.68%. Equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 target price on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.25.

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.