Intech Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 413,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,097 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Brown & Brown worth $42,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at $2,847,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at $352,000. EULAV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at $18,234,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the third quarter valued at $3,552,000. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its stake in Brown & Brown by 4.6% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 9,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $109.61 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. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $114.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $105.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.54. The stock has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.82.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 22.65% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.35%.

About Brown & Brown

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.