Qsemble Capital Management LP Invests $2.32 Million in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 22,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,320,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,144,893,000 after purchasing an additional 86,824 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.7% in 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 during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 24.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,489,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,979,000 after purchasing an additional 687,783 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 105.1% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,930,000 after buying an additional 1,059,711 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 8.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,553,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,899,000 after buying an additional 114,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $111.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.13 and a fifty-two week high of $114.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.