AQR Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO)

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,711 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Brown & Brown were worth $1,110,000 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 BRO. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,463,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Brown & Brown in the second quarter valued at approximately $16,146,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Brown & Brown by 61.1% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 46,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,000 after purchasing an additional 17,642 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Brown & Brown during the 2nd quarter valued at $117,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brown & Brown by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 41,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,744,000 after buying an additional 994 shares during the period. 71.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BRO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Brown & Brown from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Brown & Brown from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Brown & Brown from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Argus started coverage on Brown & Brown in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.33.

Insider Activity at Brown & Brown

In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $250,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO R. Andrew Watts sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 value of $250,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,872,802.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Hyatt J. Brown sold 134,640 shares of Brown & Brown stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.51, for a total transaction of $14,071,226.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brown & Brown Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:BRO opened at $104.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $102.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.76. Brown & Brown, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.73 and a 1-year high of $106.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.23, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.83.

Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Brown & Brown had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Brown & Brown, Inc. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Brown & Brown Dividend Announcement

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

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.