W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Trimmed by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich decreased its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,070 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 12,830 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 lowered W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $62.94 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.68. The company has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 7.34%.

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.