Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 59,997 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 7.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 820,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,997 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.25% of Brown & Brown worth $76,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Brown & Brown by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,139 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,050,350 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,166,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $461,925,000 after purchasing an additional 46,235 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $433,740,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $79.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.17 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.87 and a 200-day moving average of $89.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BRO. Wall Street Zen raised Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $84.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.27.

Brown & Brown Company 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.