Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $3.76 Million Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 26.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,507 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 22.3% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 204,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,432,000 after buying an additional 37,240 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 10.5% in the second quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 11,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BRO. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE BRO opened at $79.63 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $76.17 and a one 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 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.84 and its 200-day moving average is $90.16.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a positive change 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 19.76%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.