Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,435 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WRB. 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 valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third 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 period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $63.14 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.59 and its 200 day moving average is $59.45.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.