Legal & General Group Plc Has $112.04 Million Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,914,604 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 462,452 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.50% of W. R. Berkley worth $112,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,582,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $98,446,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W. R. Berkley from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.59.

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W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $68.41. 790,011 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,802,452. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.95 and a 200 day moving average of $61.10. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. 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 company has a market capitalization of $25.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

W. R. Berkley 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.