Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 197,664 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Intech Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 40.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 197,664 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Brown & Brown worth $35,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth about $899,139,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 13,974.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,112,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,427,000 after buying an additional 1,104,852 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 172.5% in the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,314,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,516,000 after buying an additional 832,100 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $72,895,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the subject of several research reports. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Brown & Brown from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $104.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.64.

Insider Activity

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

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $93.49 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The company has a market capitalization of $30.84 billion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.81. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.38 and a 1-year high of $125.68.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 17.29%.

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.