W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Aurelius Family Office LLC

Aurelius Family Office LLC decreased its position in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 49.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,519 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 7,480 shares during the quarter. Aurelius Family Office LLC's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 822 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in W.R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WRB. Barclays boosted their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.R. Berkley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,874,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,779,889. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1-year low of $51.41 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The business's fifty day moving average is $72.82 and its 200-day moving average is $66.24. The firm has a market cap of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.35%.

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.