Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 3,101 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,101 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BRO. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 389,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,084,000 after acquiring an additional 4,653 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 9.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at $609,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth about $672,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Argus started coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $113.20 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $114.15. The stock has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $106.52 and a 200-day moving average of $99.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

About Brown & Brown

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.