Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Purchases New Shares in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 534.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.85.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.1%

Brown & Brown stock opened at $111.75 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $85.97 and a one year high of $125.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $116.27 and its 200 day moving average is $111.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.71%.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.