W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 584,951 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 18,710 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.15% of W. R. Berkley worth $34,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $61.01. 1,639,493 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,917,750. 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 fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.18. The company has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.33%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.