Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 14,530 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 138,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,530 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $14,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 105,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,990,000. Faithward Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 30,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,063,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 54,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,554,000 after buying an additional 18,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capula Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $301,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BRO shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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, Bank of America upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.25.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of BRO stock opened at $116.48 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.33 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The company has a market cap of $33.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

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.