W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lessened its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 88.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 90,850 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.3 %

WRB opened at $72.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. 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 one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $76.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.68.

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

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.