Montag A & Associates Inc. Reduces Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Montag A & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 88,025 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 850 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $5,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in 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 during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB opened at $60.39 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $50.73 and a twelve month high of $65.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.05. 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 company has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRB has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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.