Wedbush Securities Inc. Boosts Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 104.4% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 30.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,360,000 after purchasing an additional 178,082 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth approximately $3,043,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 737.8% during the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 99,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,343,000 after buying an additional 87,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $78.51 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.98. The stock has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.17 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 6.72.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BRO. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $114.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.23.

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.