The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 1,037,927 Shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 29.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,451,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,037,927 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $253,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Brown & Brown by 1.5% in the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 20,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. increased its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 22,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BRO. StockNews.com cut shares of Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 2nd. Argus began coverage on shares of Brown & Brown in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Brown & Brown from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Brown & Brown from $108.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.42.

Brown & Brown Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE BRO opened at $111.75 on Tuesday. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $114.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The business’s 50-day moving average is $106.16 and its 200 day moving average is $99.01.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.12% and a net margin of 22.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Brown & Brown Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This is a positive change from Brown & Brown’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Brown & Brown’s dividend payout ratio is 16.35%.

Insider Transactions at Brown & Brown

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 17.02% of the company’s stock.

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.