Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 357,468 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 26,647 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.09% of W. R. Berkley worth $20,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after acquiring an additional 529,294 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,582,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,121,968 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $241,218,000 after buying an additional 447,797 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $69.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.59.
Check Out Our Latest Report on WRB
W. R. Berkley Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $1.42 on Friday, reaching $68.53. 2,574,963 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,805,574. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.78 and a 200-day moving average of $60.98. The firm has a market cap of $25.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley's payout ratio is 7.34%.
W. R. Berkley Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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