W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD

Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD lowered its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,523 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. W. R. Berkley makes up 2.9% of Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Corbyn Investment Management Inc. MD’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 612.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,006,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $63,904,000 after acquiring an additional 865,205 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 213.9% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,147,961 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $72,884,000 after buying an additional 782,280 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,639,296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $358,039,000 after acquiring an additional 699,297 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,065,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $829,511,000 after acquiring an additional 529,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth approximately $20,205,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $99.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $76.67. The company had a trading volume of 585,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,258,156. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $89.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.22.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

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.