Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,070 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $565,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,147,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 95,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,567,000 after acquiring an additional 3,164 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,691,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 88,426 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,175,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.6 %

WRB stock opened at $62.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.34%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.