W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 138,298 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,287 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Impact Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $840,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $818,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 129,373 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,608,000 after acquiring an additional 14,023 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 27,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,612,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the period. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 18,527 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $63.57 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.90. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a market capitalization of $24.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of 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 shares of 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. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.