Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) Shares Sold by Spring Capital Management LLC

Spring Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 96,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,768 shares during the quarter. Brown & Brown accounts for approximately 5.4% of Spring Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Spring Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $6,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BRO. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Brown & Brown by 142.7% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 25,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brown & Brown in the fourth quarter valued at $4,765,000. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Brown & Brown by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 162,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,536,000 after purchasing an additional 17,479 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 28.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 277,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,369,000 after buying an additional 61,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown during the second quarter worth $328,020,000. Institutional investors own 71.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BRO. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Brown & Brown from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Brown & Brown from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Brown & Brown from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brown & Brown has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 144,323 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.96, for a total transaction of $12,406,005.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 37,460,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,220,113,605.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 17.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown Price Performance

BRO opened at $87.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $82.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.37. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.99 and a 52-week high of $87.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.78.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 15.46% and a net margin of 20.44%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Brown & Brown’s payout ratio is 16.99%.

Brown & Brown 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.