W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by TD Private Client Wealth LLC

TD Private Client Wealth LLC decreased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,458 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,128 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,853,000 after buying an additional 444,986 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 43,350 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 14,750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $63.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 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.