W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC lowered its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 264,312 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 35,954 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC owned approximately 0.10% of W. R. Berkley worth $18,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. EULAV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 945,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,015,000 after acquiring an additional 39,716 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,970,000. NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $8,791,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 53,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after acquiring an additional 12,140 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 105,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,423,000 after acquiring an additional 13,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $82.40 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.88.

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.