Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,807,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,868 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown makes up 0.7% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 4.49% of Brown & Brown worth $1,326,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 71.2% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 3.7% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 38,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 20,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 111.0% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 9.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 16,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $110.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $31.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.56. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $114.08.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 16.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 2nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. 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 report on Friday, July 26th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown 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.