Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,295,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 62,502 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises 2.2% of Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned 0.34% of W. R. Berkley worth $75,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

WRB opened at $62.13 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.50 and a 200 day moving average of $59.39. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $23.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

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.