Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stock Holdings Lessened by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp reduced its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 91,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 858 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $10,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $899,139,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth about $72,895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,794,339,000 after buying an additional 560,980 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,169,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $145,540,000 after buying an additional 465,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 125.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 628,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,209,000 after purchasing an additional 350,236 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.4%

BRO stock opened at $95.94 on Thursday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $89.99 and a 52 week high of $125.68. The company has a market capitalization of $31.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.36. The company has a current ratio of 6.72, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.44 per share, for a total transaction of $91,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $457,200. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (down from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $101.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.92.

Brown & Brown Company 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.