ABN Amro Investment Solutions Trims Stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lowered its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 96.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 443,558 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,634,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,497,000 after purchasing an additional 303,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Brown & Brown by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,886,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,425,546,000 after purchasing an additional 407,006 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Brown & Brown by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,608,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,847,000 after purchasing an additional 246,172 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Brown & Brown by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,403,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,068,284,000 after purchasing an additional 282,988 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,495,000 after purchasing an additional 118,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $67.70 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.60. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.81 and a 1-year high of $104.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.28 and a 200-day moving average of $66.74.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 17.94%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BRO. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $60.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Brown & Brown from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.10 per share, with a total value of $114,200.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, 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 at 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.