Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 75,128 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,871,917 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 75,128 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.49% of W.R. Berkley worth $133,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 79.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WRB. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

W.R. Berkley stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.83. 2,235,809 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,795,331. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.43. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a twelve month low of $51.41 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $26.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 12.43%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Equities analysts expect that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.