Strategy Asset Managers LLC Reduces Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Strategy Asset Managers LLC decreased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,297 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 16.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,625,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,949,779,000 after buying an additional 5,124,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $433,740,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,888,000 after buying an additional 1,821,229 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $171,163,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,460,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of BRO opened at $71.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 1.67. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $70.92 and a one year high of $125.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.92. The company has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 17.84%.The business’s revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be 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 is Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 20.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BRO. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Brown & Brown from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus raised shares of Brown & Brown to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 price target (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.64.

Brown & Brown Company 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.