Headlands Technologies LLC Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Headlands Technologies LLC trimmed its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 73.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,415 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $71,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after purchasing an additional 444,986 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 72.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,248 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,574,000 after acquiring an additional 41,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 105.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 16,167 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.13.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WRB opened at $64.27 on Tuesday. 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 $76.38. The company has a market capitalization of $24.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.