W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank lowered its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,515 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,755 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 39,035 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter worth $732,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 737,472 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 257,211 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter worth $4,801,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.82.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB traded up $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.10. 1,224,947 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,524,302. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $47.59 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.30 and a 200-day moving average of $58.25. 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 (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

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.