GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 12,196 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 12.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 109,124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,196 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $7,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $972,000. Financial Enhancement Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 8,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at $409,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 164.7% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Finally, OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth $1,998,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown 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 price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.44.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $60.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $59.89 and its 200 day moving average is $68.50. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $111.09. The company has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.22%.

About Brown & Brown

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.