Handelsbanken Fonder AB Lowers Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,170 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 7,485 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on W. R. Berkley from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $93.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.63.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $76.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $84.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.31. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $89.18. The company has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

About W. R. Berkley

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.