Stephens Inc. AR Boosts Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 72.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,982 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,949,779,000 after acquiring an additional 5,124,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $433,740,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $171,163,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 11.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,139 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 16.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,369,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,350 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $79.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.80. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.17 and a 1 year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during 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 was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $114.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.67.

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.