Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Sells 17,632 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lessened its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 104,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,632 shares during the period. Brown & Brown makes up about 2.1% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $13,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the first quarter worth approximately $1,929,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 7.1% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 395.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 34,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 27,297 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 189,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,365,000 after acquiring an additional 68,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth $580,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:BRO opened at $110.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.90, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.84. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.31 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is currently 16.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BRO shares. Barclays upped their price target on Brown & Brown from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $122.00 price target (up previously from $116.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $126.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.85.

About Brown & Brown

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.