Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Sold by Faithward Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Faithward Advisors LLC cut its Brown & Brown stake by 86.8% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 4,093 shares worth about $326,000.
• Brown & Brown reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, with EPS of $1.39 versus $1.36 expected and revenue of $1.90 billion, up 35.4% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, while analysts currently have a Hold consensus on the stock with a target price of $78.44.

Faithward Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 86.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,093 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 26,887 shares during the period. Faithward Advisors LLC's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,999,497,000 after acquiring an additional 303,955 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,425,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,006 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,068,284,000 after acquiring an additional 282,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $631,495,000 after acquiring an additional 118,225 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $516,837,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BRO opened at $59.66 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $60.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.63. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $111.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown's payout ratio is 21.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a "market outperform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.44.

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.

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