Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 79,701 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 38.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 125,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 79,701 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $11,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $30,000. Motco bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter valued at $52,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Brown & Brown from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.36.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $71.21 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.68 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.79.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for 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%.Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 20.63%.

About Brown & Brown

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.