Aurora Investment Counsel Sells 1,088 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

by · The Markets Daily

Aurora Investment Counsel reduced its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,088 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on WRB

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $61.77 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.27 and a 200 day moving average of $59.73. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Free Report) last posted 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

About W. R. Berkley

(Free Report)

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.

See Also