Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $767,000 Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd reduced its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 78.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,105 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 47,324 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

WRB stock traded down $0.68 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.05. 458,040 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,867,609. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $23.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.51.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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 anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.36.

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.