Berkley W R Corp Purchases New Shares in The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE)

Berkley W R Corp acquired a new position in shares of The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 209,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,415,000. St. Joe comprises 0.4% of Berkley W R Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in JOE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of St. Joe by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,197,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,449,000 after purchasing an additional 252,906 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of St. Joe in the 4th quarter valued at $4,981,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of St. Joe in the 4th quarter valued at $4,657,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in St. Joe during the 4th quarter worth about $2,628,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in St. Joe by 404.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 64,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,790,000 after acquiring an additional 52,107 shares in the last quarter. 86.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 160,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $7,534,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,000,724 shares in the company, valued at $799,034,028. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 300,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,113,022 in the last ninety days. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

St. Joe Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JOE opened at $42.64 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The St. Joe Company has a 1-year low of $40.19 and a 1-year high of $64.69. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.14 and a beta of 1.28.

St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter. St. Joe had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 17.76%. The business had revenue of $94.20 million for the quarter.

St. Joe Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. St. Joe’s payout ratio is currently 42.11%.

About St. Joe

The St. Joe Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development, asset management, and operating company in Northwest Florida. It operates through three segments: Residential, Hospitality, and Commercial. The Residential segment engages in the development of communities into homesites for sale to homebuilders and on a limited basis to retail customers.