BNP Paribas Financial Markets Cuts Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 126,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,164 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $8,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,236,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $372,360,000 after buying an additional 29,514 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,285,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $159,620,000 after purchasing an additional 130,647 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,715,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $119,821,000 after purchasing an additional 235,001 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,516,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,897,000 after purchasing an additional 13,477 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Brown & Brown by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,247,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,743,000 after buying an additional 26,075 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Brown & Brown from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on Brown & Brown from $89.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.30.

Brown & Brown Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRO opened at $89.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $84.69 and its 200 day moving average is $78.84. The stock has a market cap of $25.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.79. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.71 and a 1-year high of $89.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.09% and a return on equity of 16.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

Brown & Brown Profile

Brown & Brown, Inc markets and sells insurance products and services in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Retail, National Programs, Wholesale Brokerage, and Services. The Retail segment provides property and casualty, employee benefits insurance products, personal insurance products, specialties insurance products, risk management strategies, loss control survey and analysis, consultancy, and claims processing services.