Man Group plc Sells 45,299 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Man Group plc trimmed its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 151,654 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 45,299 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,469,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $83,372,000 after acquiring an additional 646,973 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,074 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,524,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $560,000. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE WRB traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,248,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,760,501. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve month high of $76.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.17 and a 200 day moving average of $63.48.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.64.

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.