Brown & Brown, Inc. $BRO Stock Position Reduced by Parnassus Investments LLC

Parnassus Investments LLC cut its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,204,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 630,126 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $494,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRO. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 38.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 33,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in Brown & Brown by 5.2% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Brown & Brown by 1,824.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 53,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 50,344 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 27.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its position in Brown & Brown by 60.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on BRO shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.44.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

NYSE:BRO opened at $59.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.63. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $111.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 17.94% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Director H Palmer Proctor, Jr. purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 13.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.