W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc reduced its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 77.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,071 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 17,316 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $732,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $64.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.82.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.