Renaissance Group LLC Decreases Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Renaissance Group LLC decreased its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 274,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 46,332 shares during the period. Renaissance Group LLC owned about 0.08% of Brown & Brown worth $30,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 760,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,360,000 after buying an additional 178,082 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,043,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Brown & Brown by 737.8% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 99,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,343,000 after acquiring an additional 87,379 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BRO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $97.00 price target (down from $135.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $79.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 6.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.17 and a 12-month high of $125.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.39.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.15. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 18.23%.The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 19.76%.

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.