JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $415.10 Million Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,093,271 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 273,153 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.86% of W. R. Berkley worth $415,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 44.8% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,291,000 after buying an additional 96,292 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 49.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after buying an additional 7,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after buying an additional 47,515 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $71.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.16. 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 quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is 7.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley 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.