WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 167,290 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

WINTON GROUP Ltd lowered its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 51.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 167,290 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises approximately 0.6% of WINTON GROUP Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $9,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 469,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,210,000 after buying an additional 22,997 shares in the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 60,445 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,537,000 after acquiring an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $65.22 on Thursday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $66.14. The company has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.