Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Sells 1,018 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,018 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after buying an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $61.51 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.58 and its 200 day moving average is $58.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.