Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 20,298 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,298 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $14,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,794,339,000 after purchasing an additional 560,980 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at $899,139,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 8.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,120,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $512,545,000 after purchasing an additional 316,519 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 6.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,063,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,129,000 after purchasing an additional 181,315 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,353,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,760,000 after purchasing an additional 33,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.23.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 2.7%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $78.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $90.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.23. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.17 and a twelve month high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The business’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.76%.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.