Legal & General Group Plc Sells 38,717 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,112,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,717 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $88,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 423.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Maseco LLP bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new position in Brown & Brown during the fourth quarter worth about $67,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $56.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.37. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.81 and a fifty-two week high of $113.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Brown & Brown’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 47,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.44.

Brown & Brown Profile

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.