Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its Brown & Brown stake by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 53,800 shares and leaving it with 82,134 shares worth about $6.55 million.
• Brown & Brown reported solid quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.39 and revenue of $1.90 billion, both slightly ahead of expectations, with revenue up 35.4% year over year.
• Insider buying and mixed analyst sentiment were also highlighted: Director H. Palmer Proctor Jr. bought 2,000 shares, while Wall Street currently has a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $79.44.

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,134 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 53,800 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter worth $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 36.9% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 735 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 13.13% of the company's stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

BRO opened at $57.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.68 and a 200 day moving average of $72.10. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $113.83. 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 (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Brown & Brown's quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "market outperform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $81.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.44.

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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