California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 15.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 513,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 92,416 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.15% of Brown & Brown worth $33,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $57.10 per share, for a total transaction of $114,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 47,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,719,159.10. This trade represents a 4.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 13.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $66.53 on Wednesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $104.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.60.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.03. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. 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 prior year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BRO. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $69.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Brown & Brown from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Five 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.62.

Brown & Brown Company Profile

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.