Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Bought by Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 2,420.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,528 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 93,658 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.'s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,861.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 810,359 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,595,000 after purchasing an additional 769,051 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Brown & Brown by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,021,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $71,353,000 after buying an additional 460,068 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,805,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,715,645 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $119,821,000 after acquiring an additional 235,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 396,141 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,666,000 after acquiring an additional 234,853 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock traded up $0.78 on Friday, reaching $83.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,012,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,399,759. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.71 and a 52-week high of $87.99.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The firm 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Bank of America cut shares of Brown & Brown from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $87.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total value of $12,406,005.08. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 17.02% of the company's stock.

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.