W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Holdings Reduced by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund cut its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 146,643 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PFS Partners LLC increased 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 worth $41,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $62.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend 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.