Boston Partners Sells 505 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Boston Partners trimmed its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 505 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 234.1% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 39,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,306,000 after acquiring an additional 27,609 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 26,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 835,963 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,920,000 after acquiring an additional 60,534 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 156.5% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd now owns 23,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 14,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,103,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $64,586,000 after acquiring an additional 38,170 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $63.21 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.92. The company has a market capitalization of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

About W. R. Berkley

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.