Squarepoint Ops LLC Sells 126,348 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Key Points

• Squarepoint Ops LLC cut its Brown & Brown stake by 90.3% in the second quarter, selling 126,348 shares and retaining 13,502 shares worth approximately $866,000.
• Institutional ownership remains substantial at 71.01%, with BlackRock initiating a large position and Capital World Investors, Principal Financial, and Geode Capital increasing their holdings.
• Analysts hold a consensus “Hold” rating with a $76.60 price target. Brown & Brown recently reported quarterly revenue of $1.65 billion and EPS of $1.07, slightly below expectations, while revenue rose 30.4% year over year.

Squarepoint Ops LLC reduced its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - Free Report) by 90.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,502 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 126,348 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC's holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,418,571,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,425,546,000 after purchasing an additional 407,006 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 246,172 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth $516,837,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BRO. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $73.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Brown & Brown from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.60.

Brown & Brown Trading Down 0.3%

BRO stock opened at $64.92 on Friday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.81 and a 52-week high of $96.55. The firm has a market cap of $21.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $70.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.74.

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

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown's payout ratio is 20.82%.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc is an independent insurance brokerage and risk management company headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. The company helps businesses, public entities and individuals identify, manage and transfer risk by providing insurance products and related advisory services.

Its offerings include property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, surety products, risk management services and specialty insurance programs. Brown & Brown also operates wholesale brokerage and managing general agency businesses, which provide specialized coverage and market access to retail insurance agents and brokers.

Founded in 1939 by J.

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