W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel trimmed its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,604 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,156 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the first quarter worth about $82,706,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,904,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $134,690,000 after acquiring an additional 898,027 shares during the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,915,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 83.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,180,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,757,000 after purchasing an additional 535,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 190.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 477,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,254,000 after purchasing an additional 313,234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $56.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $41.37 and a twelve month high of $61.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. W. R. Berkley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WRB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley 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.