W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd decreased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 78.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,105 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 47,324 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $378,000. Townsend & Associates Inc boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 289,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $17,161,000 after buying an additional 4,577 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $1,042,000. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter worth about $320,000. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 122,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,156,000 after buying an additional 3,332 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley started 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 target for the company. Barclays raised their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $63.14 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.43. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

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.