Shell Asset Management Co. Sells 1,272 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Shell Asset Management Co. trimmed its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 1.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 96,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,272 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $10,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after acquiring an additional 560,980 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,940,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,609,742,000 after acquiring an additional 38,078 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth $899,139,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,120,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $512,545,000 after acquiring an additional 316,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,063,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,129,000 after purchasing an additional 181,315 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $94.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.49. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.99 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 17.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at $499,488.43. This represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada purchased 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 15.59% of the company’s stock.

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.