Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 232.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 128,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 89,797 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $13,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at about $2,879,000. Taika Capital LP bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at about $921,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 367,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,058,000 after buying an additional 1,712 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at about $385,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Brown & Brown by 25.4% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 64,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,671,000 after buying an additional 13,030 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.46.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $109.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $107.99 and a 200 day moving average of $100.58. The stock has a market cap of $31.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.84. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $114.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 16.35%.

About Brown & Brown

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.