Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New Investment in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $102,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 161,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,104,000 after acquiring an additional 6,805 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 3rd quarter valued at $9,832,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,302,000 after purchasing an additional 17,934 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,553,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,899,000 after purchasing an additional 114,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 48.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 235,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,410,000 after purchasing an additional 76,694 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BRO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $103.70 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.23 and a fifty-two week high of $114.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.04. The company has a market capitalization of $29.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.35%.

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.