Stephens Inc. AR Lowers Stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Stephens Inc. AR lowered its stake in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 4.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 268,695 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 11,675 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $19,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $685,999,000 after buying an additional 116,957 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $449,168,000 after buying an additional 103,350 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $357,368,000 after buying an additional 900,071 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $280,156,000 after buying an additional 632,578 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $68.83 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $72.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.49. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.41 and a 12 month high of $76.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

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.