Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 71,974 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lessened its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 386,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 71,974 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.15% of W. R. Berkley worth $27,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WRB. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 427.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,899,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $790,947,000 after purchasing an additional 8,831,553 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,620,232,000 after buying an additional 8,664,707 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $795,136,000 after buying an additional 4,732,333 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $199,140,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 119.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $224,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,475 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.0 %

WRB opened at $82.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $84.42 and its 200 day moving average is $75.17. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.57.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.22.

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.