Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $6.40 Million Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 89,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,021 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $82.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.00 and a 52-week high of $87.99. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.90. The company has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.82%. 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 prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 16.43% of the company’s stock.

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.