Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 140.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 308,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 179,934 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of Brown & Brown worth $31,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,940,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,054,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,964 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,901,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,259,000 after purchasing an additional 94,121 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,099,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $620,737,000 after purchasing an additional 118,569 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,195,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $428,043,000 after purchasing an additional 566,116 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,803,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,045,000 after purchasing an additional 388,411 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Edward Jones initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $138.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.85.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $112.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $116.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.15. The company has a market cap of $32.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.97 and a 52-week high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.71%.

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.