Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Reduces Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC decreased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,331 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,588 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BRO. Barclays began coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $110.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,501,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,319,720. The firm has a market cap of $31.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $114.08. The business's 50-day moving average is $105.38 and its 200 day moving average is $97.87. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The firm's revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a boost from Brown & Brown's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.35%.

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.