Patton Fund Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Patton Fund Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 22.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,130 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 12,211 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 21,737 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 108,810 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 130,112 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,673,000 after purchasing an additional 8,403 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,231 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $451,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted 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 lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.64.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WRB opened at $73.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $27.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.42. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.41 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. As a group, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from W. R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.42%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.