Seven Eight Capital LP Invests $238,000 in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BRO. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Brown & Brown by 330.4% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. First PREMIER Bank purchased a new position in Brown & Brown in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies acquired a new position in shares of Brown & Brown during the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

Brown & Brown stock opened at $102.21 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.73 and a 1 year high of $106.02. The company has a market capitalization of $29.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. Brown & Brown had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total value of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Brown & Brown news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,872,802.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Brown & Brown Company 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.