W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. trimmed its holdings in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 42.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,759 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 11,587 shares during the quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,436,473 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,132,262,000 after buying an additional 529,294 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 11,722,476 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $685,999,000 after purchasing an additional 116,957 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,694,703 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,168,000 after purchasing an additional 103,350 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $357,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,787,361 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $280,156,000 after purchasing an additional 632,578 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W.R. Berkley from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen cut W.R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.75.

W.R. Berkley Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of WRB traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 244,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,773,612. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.41 and a 12-month high of $76.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company's 50 day moving average is $72.82 and its 200 day moving average is $66.24.

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

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.35%.

W.R. Berkley Company 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.