Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes $10.40 Million Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 101,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,403,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.67.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $115.01 on Monday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.33 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a market cap of $32.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. On average, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.