W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel lowered its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 35.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,347 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 11,629 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel's holdings in W.R. Berkley were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in W.R. Berkley by 75.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $5,676,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,787,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $663,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of WRB stock opened at $68.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a one year low of $51.41 and a one year high of $76.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. 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 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. W.R. Berkley's payout ratio is currently 8.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WRB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report).

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.