Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Acquired by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 70,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 961 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $7,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 3.9% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 96,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,955,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 15.8% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,025,000 after buying an additional 2,664 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 3.9% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 51,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,334,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BRO. Barclays lifted their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $118.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.33 and a 1 year high of $120.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $107.81 and a 200-day moving average of $106.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 17.34%.

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.