Claro Advisors LLC Sells 3,093 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Claro Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,871 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,093 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $636,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth about $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,801,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $57.24 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $48.48 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.30 and its 200-day moving average is $58.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. 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 announced 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 net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. W. R. Berkley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.82.

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.