CHB Investment Group LLC Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

CHB Investment Group LLC lessened its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,385 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley accounts for 1.6% of CHB Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. CHB Investment Group LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WRB shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley started 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $57.24 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $48.48 and a 52-week high of $65.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.36. The firm has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.21%.

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.