W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stake Trimmed by Citizens National Bank Trust Department

Citizens National Bank Trust Department cut its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,269 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,341 shares during the quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. MML Investors Services LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after buying an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $208,436,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.6 %

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.89 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The stock has a market cap of $23.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 report on Monday, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.