Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 122,155 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 14.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 710,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 122,155 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Brown & Brown worth $46,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.06.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of Brown & Brown stock opened at $67.65 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.51. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $108.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $22.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.60.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for 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 was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.22%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,719,159.10. This represents a 4.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.13% of the company’s stock.

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.