First Merchants Corp Acquires 561 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

First Merchants Corp raised its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $9,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,915,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,638,000 after purchasing an additional 28,180 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,466,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,537,000 after buying an additional 371,980 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,315,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,302,000 after buying an additional 17,934 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 42.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,109,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $114,979,000 after buying an additional 330,661 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.2% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 779,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,749,000 after acquiring an additional 45,766 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Brown & Brown from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Brown & Brown from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.17.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE BRO opened at $110.95 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.33 and a 12 month high of $114.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.51 and a 200-day moving average of $104.92. The company has a market cap of $31.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.07, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.86.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.10. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 17.81%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.34%.

Brown & Brown Company 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.