Cibc World Markets Corp Sells 10,932 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Cibc World Markets Corp trimmed its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,653 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 10,932 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.5 %

WRB stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $64.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,377,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,654,774. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.12 and a 200 day moving average of $59.95. The company has a market cap of $24.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.