Bank of Nova Scotia Buys 62,578 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 226.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 62,578 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $10,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Bares Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 188.6% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,129.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $77.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market cap of $26.45 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.98. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.17 and a fifty-two week high of $125.68.

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

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This is an increase from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 19.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.69.

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.