First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Boosts Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 105,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,649 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 18.0% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 18,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 10.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 37,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,593,000 after acquiring an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 39,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,354,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BRO. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 16.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $85.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.71 and a 52 week high of $87.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.91.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.