Prospector Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Prospector Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 95.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 269,746 shares during the period. Brown & Brown makes up about 2.0% of Prospector Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 78,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares during the period. Giverny Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 772,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,570,000 after purchasing an additional 450,274 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 8,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,397,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,820,000 after purchasing an additional 882,830 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BRO. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.44.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $59.96 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.79. The firm has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.81 and a 12-month high of $111.10.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 21.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc (NYSE: BRO) is a professional insurance brokerage and risk advisory firm that provides a broad range of property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and specialty insurance products. The company works with commercial, public sector and individual clients to design and place insurance programs, manage claims and loss control, and deliver risk management consulting. Its services also include wholesale brokerage, program administration and other specialty distribution solutions that connect carriers and intermediaries to niche markets.

Brown & Brown operates through a decentralized model of operating units and subsidiaries, enabling local client service with the scale to access national and specialty markets.