First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 2,026,589 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 626.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,350,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,026,589 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $239,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 324.3% in the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 19,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after buying an additional 14,740 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 395.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 34,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after purchasing an additional 27,297 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 56.8% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 189,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,365,000 after buying an additional 68,745 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,394,000 after buying an additional 40,881 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 304,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,055,000 after buying an additional 50,510 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on BRO. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Edward Jones started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE BRO opened at $117.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.87 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $117.44 and a 200-day moving average of $110.10.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.34%.

Brown & Brown Company 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.