State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 49,265 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 36.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 49,265 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $7,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,355,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,482,223,000 after acquiring an additional 203,105 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.7% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,804,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,144,893,000 after acquiring an additional 86,824 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,663,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 105.1% in the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,068,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,930,000 after buying an additional 1,059,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,000,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,236,000 after buying an additional 865,082 shares during the last quarter. 71.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BRO. Barclays began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Brown & Brown from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $94.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

Brown & Brown Trading Up 0.9 %

BRO stock opened at $103.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.83. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 12 month low of $66.73 and a 12 month high of $106.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.60 and its 200 day moving average is $91.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.