Quantbot Technologies LP Reduces Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 86.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 61,349 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 534.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 581.8% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth about $31,000. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 188.6% during the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter worth about $45,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $104.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target (down from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $96.6060 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a current ratio of 6.72. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.86 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its 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. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.