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

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.5% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $104.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $107.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.16 and its 200 day moving average is $95.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 14.17%.

Brown & Brown 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.