Rhumbline Advisers Sells 18,710 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 584,951 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,710 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $34,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $60.55 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $59.23 and its 200 day moving average is $59.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid 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 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.33%.

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.