Forsta AP Fonden Decreases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 50.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,950 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 62,800 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.82. 1,330,814 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,183,961. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 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 the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 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 Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.