Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. decreased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,482 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,197 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,008 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 120.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 6,614 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,874 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 4,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.22.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.53 and a 200-day moving average of $75.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

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

About W. R. Berkley

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.