Pullen Investment Management LLC Sells 854 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Pullen Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 854 shares during the quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on WRB. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WRB stock opened at $73.17 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.99. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $51.41 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 7.42%.

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.