Vancity Investment Management Ltd Lowers Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Vancity Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 275,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,167 shares during the period. Brown & Brown comprises about 3.0% of Vancity Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Vancity Investment Management Ltd owned about 0.08% of Brown & Brown worth $21,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Brown & Brown by 81.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,479,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,992 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at $516,837,000. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter valued at $371,654,000. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,538,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,725,000 after buying an additional 2,589,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,330,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,501,264,000 after buying an additional 1,705,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, with a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of BRO stock opened at $59.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.63. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $111.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.55 and its 200 day moving average is $69.18.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) 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. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.44.

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.