Pacer Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 21.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,300 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $3,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth $1,929,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 104.4% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $847,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 395.6% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 34,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 27,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 764,709 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $95,130,000 after acquiring an additional 18,677 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 10.4%

NYSE:BRO traded down $10.64 on Tuesday, reaching $91.94. 10,468,972 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,198,869. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $108.16 and a 200-day moving average of $111.61. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.55 and a 52-week high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Brown & Brown's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $127.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on Brown & Brown from $111.00 to $108.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Edward Jones initiated coverage on Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Brown & Brown from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $118.67.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.