Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 671,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,502 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $52,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 122.8% in the fourth quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 4,620 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 2,183,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,026,000 after acquiring an additional 27,056 shares during the period. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 251.0% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 23,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 16,747 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,226,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on BRO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus upgraded Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.73.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $56.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.22. The company has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.66. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.10 and a 12-month high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The business’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.