Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,753 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bares Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in Brown & Brown by 298.5% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $30,000. Motco acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1,129.6% in the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brown & Brown from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $102.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Brown & Brown from $98.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.80.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $80.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $27.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.17 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.01.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. 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. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 19.76%.

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.