KBC Group NV Trims Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,846 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:WRB opened at $59.29 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 8.20%.

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.