Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Reduces Stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lowered its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,428 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 654 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WRB. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 39.1% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,322 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 1,778 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,586 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,310 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,875,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 34,132 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 227,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,437,000 after purchasing an additional 22,150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WRB shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 3.6 %

NYSE WRB opened at $56.93 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.66. W. R. Berkley Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.