Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 1,124,100 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 89.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 135,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,124,100 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $12,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,132,000 after buying an additional 9,264 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $217,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 189.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 60,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,760,000 after purchasing an additional 9,977 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the subject of several research reports. Argus raised Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Brown & Brown from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.43.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $71.70 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $65.68 and a one year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.35.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a $0.165 dividend. 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, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

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.