Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 12,117 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 44,298 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,117 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $3,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the third quarter worth $682,816,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 33.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,892,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,363 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth $65,233,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,505,867 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $245,831,000 after purchasing an additional 906,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 21.5% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,711,425 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $284,350,000 after purchasing an additional 657,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen cut shares of W.R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of W.R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of W.R. Berkley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Monday, March 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.R. Berkley

In related news, major shareholder Sumitomo Insurance Co L. Mitsui acquired 345,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $24,374,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 57,508,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,062,942,884.70. This trade represents a 0.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 2,183,798 shares of company stock valued at $155,530,321 over the last 90 days. 23.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $66.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.67. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.