W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Holdings Trimmed by Investment Management Corp of Ontario

Investment Management Corp of Ontario reduced its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 516,303 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,214,000 after purchasing an additional 169,919 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,676,000. Geller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at about $552,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 13,800 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 471.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 73,297 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 60,476 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.4%

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $72.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $27.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.07). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.42%.

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.