Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 26,530 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 10.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 226,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,530 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown makes up 1.5% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $25,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 12.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director Paul J. Krump acquired 2,678 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This represents a 100.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $457,200. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 15.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of BRO opened at $87.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $28.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.79 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The company has a quick ratio of 6.72, a current ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.54.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Brown & Brown’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 17.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BRO shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.92.

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.