Procyon Advisors LLC Has $1.09 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Procyon Advisors LLC trimmed its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,672 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,116 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in 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 last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after buying an additional 54,530 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.3 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $59.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.28 and its 200 day moving average is $58.48. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $48.69 and a 12-month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WRB. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. 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 research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

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.