Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Sold by Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. by 49.2% to a total of $4.48 million, reflecting a significant sell-off of 34,879 shares in the first quarter.
• Recent quarterly earnings showed Brown & Brown reporting $1.03 earnings per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.99, with revenues up 9.1% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share with an annualized yield of 0.6%, indicating strong cash flow relative to its earnings.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lessened its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 49.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,001 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 34,879 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $4,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 13,974.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,112,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $138,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,852 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 172.5% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,314,434 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $163,516,000 after purchasing an additional 832,100 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 9,262.2% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 687,095 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $70,097,000 after buying an additional 679,756 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $72,895,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after buying an additional 560,980 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada bought 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $457,200. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $93.31 per share, with a total value of $249,884.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $499,488.43. The trade was a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 15.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Brown & Brown from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $101.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Brown & Brown from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Brown & Brown from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Truist Financial set a $120.00 price objective on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $109.00 to $105.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.64.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE BRO traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $95.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,354,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,561,458. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.80. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.38 and a 1-year high of $125.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The company's 50-day moving average is $100.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.57.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Brown & Brown's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.29%.

About Brown & Brown

Brown & Brown, Inc is an insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance program and service organization. It engages in the provision of insurance brokerage services and casualty insurance underwriting services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services.