W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC lessened its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,967 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,329 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $22,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Manhattan Co. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 486 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. James Investment Research Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 676 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WRB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $75.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on W. R. Berkley from $82.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.64.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $56.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $55.67 and a 52-week high of $76.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.04. The company has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.62.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.19). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

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W.R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the property casualty insurance business. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment includes excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia, Asia, and Australia.