D.A. Davidson & CO. Cuts Holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 19.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,714 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $2,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BRO. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at about $899,139,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the first quarter valued at about $72,895,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,501,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,794,339,000 after purchasing an additional 560,980 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 66.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,169,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,540,000 after purchasing an additional 465,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 51.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 952,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,595,000 after purchasing an additional 323,733 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bronislaw Edmund Masojada bought 1,000 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $457,200. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Paul J. Krump bought 2,678 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $93.31 per share, for a total transaction of $249,884.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,488.43. This trade represents a 100.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $88.03 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 company has a market cap of $29.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.79 and a 1 year high of $125.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.84.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 5th. Brown & Brown’s dividend 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.