Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 199,024 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 1,413.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 213,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 199,024 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Brown & Brown worth $23,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 279,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,796,000 after acquiring an additional 76,247 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,895,000. SouthState Corp grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 188.6% in the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 63,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $78.41 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $26.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.11. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.17 and a 52-week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.69.

Brown & Brown 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.