Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Key Points

• Royal London Asset Management cut its Brown & Brown stake by 3.2% in the second quarter, selling 22,240 shares and retaining 676,282 shares valued at approximately $43.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.01% of the company.
• Brown & Brown shares were trading at $73.32, up 2.7%, after the company reported quarterly revenue growth of 30.4% year over year. However, earnings of $1.07 per share and revenue of $1.65 billion narrowly missed analyst estimates.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, equivalent to an annualized $0.66 dividend and a 0.9% yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $76.80.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lessened its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 676,282 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 22,240 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.20% of Brown & Brown worth $43,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth about $1,418,571,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,425,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,006 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,017,847,000 after acquiring an additional 246,172 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of BRO stock opened at $73.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.80. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.81 and a twelve month high of $97.49.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 17.75%.Brown & Brown's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup downgraded Brown & Brown from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $73.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $76.80.

Brown & Brown 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.

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