Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Decreases Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 519,624 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,292 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $36,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Clear Street Markets LLC raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 92.3% in the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 106.1% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 132.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 414 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE:WRB opened at $82.40 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $84.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.87.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WRB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley currently has an average 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.