OP Asset Management Ltd Invests $2 Million in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• OP Asset Management disclosed a new first-quarter position in Brown & Brown, buying 30,640 shares valued at about $2.0 million.
• Brown & Brown’s latest earnings beat expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.39 versus the $1.36 consensus and revenue of $1.90 billion, up 35.4% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the stock’s consensus rating is Hold with an average target price of $78.44, while several firms have recently trimmed their price targets.

OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 30,640 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,998,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its position in Brown & Brown by 5.4% in the second quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 17,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in 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 recently weighed in on BRO shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered Brown & Brown from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.44.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $64.25 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.63. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.81 and a 52-week high of $111.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm's fifty day moving average is $59.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.40.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio is 21.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,719,159.10. The trade was a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 13.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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