Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) is a leading insurance brokerage and risk management firm serving commercial, personal, and employee benefits clients. Shares recently traded around $81 per share, giving the company a market value of roughly $27.6 billion.
After a strong multi-year run, Brown & Brown’s stock has pulled back over the past year as valuation reset and investors reassessed growth expectations. Looking at who owns the stock and how insiders have been trading helps show how large institutions and company leadership appear to be positioning today.
Who Are Brown & Brown’s Top Shareholders?
Brown & Brown’s shareholder base is led by large institutional investors. These firms often hold through market cycles, which can help support long term ownership stability, while changes among active managers can signal shifting conviction.
- The Vanguard Group: 37.19M shares (10.89%), ~$3.0B value. Added 1.70M shares (+4.79%).
- J. Hyatt Brown: 35.99M shares (10.54%), ~$2.9B value. Cut 1.73M shares (-4.58%).
- Capital World Investors: 17.48M shares (5.12%), ~$1.4B value. Added 7.83M shares (+81.11%).
- Principal Global Investors (Equity): 15.42M shares (4.52%), ~$1.25B value. Added 1.82M shares (+13.40%).
- BlackRock Institutional Trust Company: 14.67M shares (4.30%), ~$1.19B value. Added 106k shares (+0.73%).
- State Street Investment Management: 13.12M shares (3.84%), ~$1.06B value. Added 660k shares (+5.30%).
- Fidelity Management & Research: 10.99M shares (3.22%), ~$888M value. Added 3.18M shares (+40.65%).
- Geode Capital Management: 7.83M shares (2.29%), ~$633M value. Added 465k shares (+6.31%).
- Parnassus Investments: 6.83M shares (2.00%), ~$552M value. Cut 182k shares (-2.60%).
- Select Equity Group: 6.08M shares (1.78%), ~$491M value. Added 331k shares (+5.76%).
For investors, this ownership mix suggests Brown & Brown continues to benefit from a stable passive shareholder base, while sizable additions from active managers like Capital World Investors and Fidelity may reflect improving confidence following the stock’s pullback.
Hedge Fund Highlights
One notable move last quarter came from Winton Group, founded by David Harding, which increased its Brown & Brown position by more than 2,400%. While the position remains relatively small within the firm’s broader portfolio, the scale of the increase suggests Winton may be reassessing the stock’s risk reward profile at current levels.
AQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, also made a sizable adjustment, boosting its stake by roughly 1,700% to a position worth over $110M value. This move may indicate AQR sees more attractive forward return assumptions following the stock’s decline.
Another meaningful change came from Zimmer Partners, founded by Stuart Zimmer, which expanded its position by just over 200%. While the dollar value remains modest compared to larger multi-strategy funds, the increase suggests growing interest as growth expectations normalize.
Gotham Asset Management, run by Joel Greenblatt, roughly doubled its exposure to Brown & Brown. Given Gotham’s valuation-driven approach, the added exposure may reflect the firm’s view that the stock looks more attractively priced than it did at prior highs.
For investors, hedge fund activity appears selective rather than one sided, pointing to a reassessment of valuation rather than broad conviction positioning.
Track the top shareholders of over 50,000 global stocks (It’s free) >>>
Brown & Brown’s Recent Insider Trades
Insider trades can offer additional context on how executives and directors appear to be managing personal exposure, though motivations are not always clear.
- Watts R. Andrew (Officer): Mixed transactions on 12/18/25 totaling roughly $200k in combined value.
- Stephen M. Boyd (Officer): Sold ~1,500 shares on 12/16/25 for approximately $120k.
- J. Hyatt Brown (Officer, Director): Sold ~1,400 shares on 12/14/25 for approximately $115k.
- James Powell Brown (Officer, Director): Acquired 474 shares on 12/14/25 for roughly $38k.
- Paul J. Krump (Director): Purchased 2,678 shares on 8/7/25 for approximately $250k.
- Bronislaw Edmund Masojada (Director): Purchased 1,000 shares on 8/5/25 for approximately $91k.
For investors, insider activity appears measured, with modest selling and selective buying that looks more like personal exposure management than a strong directional signal on the stock.
See recent insider trade data for over 50,000 global stocks (It’s free) >>>
What the Ownership & Insider Trade Data Tell Us
Brown & Brown’s shareholder base remains anchored by large institutional investors, which can help provide stability during periods of stock volatility. At the same time, hedge fund and active manager positioning appears mixed, with some funds adding aggressively and others remaining cautious.
Insider transactions also appear balanced, with selling and buying occurring at different price levels. Taken together, the data suggest Brown & Brown continues to be viewed as a high quality insurance brokerage with durable cash flow, though investors appear to be taking a more selective approach as valuation and growth expectations reset.
Value Any Stock in Under 60 Seconds (It’s Free)
With TIKR’s new Valuation Model tool, you can estimate a stock’s potential share price in under a minute.
All it takes is three simple inputs:
- Revenue Growth
- Operating Margins
- Exit P/E Multiple
From there, TIKR calculates the potential share price and total returns under Bull, Base, and Bear scenarios so you can quickly see whether a stock looks undervalued or overvalued.
If you’re not sure what to enter, TIKR automatically fills in each input using analysts’ consensus estimates, giving you a quick, reliable starting point.
See a stock’s true value in under 60 seconds (Free with TIKR) >>>
