Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 4,008 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 15.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 30,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,008 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 55,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,848,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter valued at $416,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 773,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,034,000 after buying an additional 18,253 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BRO traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $93.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,331,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 944,617. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $89.67 and a 200-day moving average of $83.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $66.73 and a 12-month high of $94.12.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BRO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.70.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, EVP Julie Turpin sold 3,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.92, for a total transaction of $301,232.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,121,842.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.