J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Reduces Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG decreased its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 87.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,941 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BRO. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $899,139,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 172.5% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,314,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,516,000 after acquiring an additional 832,100 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $72,895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after acquiring an additional 560,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,169,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,540,000 after acquiring an additional 465,028 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.44 per share, with a total value of $91,440.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $457,200. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paul J. Krump purchased 2,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 5,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Brown & Brown from $104.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $122.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial set a $120.00 price objective on Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Brown & Brown from $109.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.08.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $95.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 6.72 and a quick ratio of 6.72. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $89.99 and a one year high of $125.68.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 19.89%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 17.29%.

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.