Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Raises Dividend to $0.18 Per Share

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 11th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 4th. This is a 9.1% increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.1650.

Brown & Brown has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years. Brown & Brown has a payout ratio of 16.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Brown & Brown to earn $4.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.66 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.5%.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO traded up $3.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $73.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 200,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,912,984. Brown & Brown has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $90.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $67.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.02.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $1,418,571,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,847,000 after buying an additional 246,172 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at $266,941,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 45.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,623,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,268,000 after buying an additional 1,128,417 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,569,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,786,000 after buying an additional 173,320 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance brokerage and risk management company headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. The company helps businesses, public entities, individuals and other organizations identify, manage and transfer risk by arranging insurance coverage and providing related advisory services.

Its operations include retail insurance brokerage, national programs, wholesale brokerage and services. Brown & Brown offers property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, surety and other specialized coverage.