Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Holdings Trimmed by WealthPlan Investment Management LLC

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 53.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 46,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,539 shares during the quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Brown & Brown by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Brown & Brown by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,416,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,229 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,120,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,230,602,000 after acquiring an additional 660,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,802,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $217,517,000 after acquiring an additional 57,274 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.73.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of BRO opened at $56.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.22%.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

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.