Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Decreases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated decreased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 30.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,247 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. State Street Corp increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WRB opened at $61.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.58 and a 200 day moving average of $58.68.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

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.