National Pension Service Lowers Stock Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

National Pension Service lowered its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 558,737 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 33,228 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.15% of W. R. Berkley worth $32,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WRB shares. Barclays lifted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. 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 research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of WRB opened at $63.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.43.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.