W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) Shares Sold by Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 633,652 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 6,921 shares during the quarter. W.R. Berkley accounts for about 7.8% of Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of W.R. Berkley worth $45,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WRB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $272,582,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W.R. Berkley during the fourth quarter worth about $98,446,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,949,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $172,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 21.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,022,039 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $357,368,000 after buying an additional 900,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in W.R. Berkley by 8,709.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 671,893 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,812,000 after buying an additional 664,266 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WRB. The Goldman Sachs Group cut W.R. Berkley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $63.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on W.R. Berkley from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, 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 report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

W.R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $68.95. 1,503,164 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,785,753. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.41 and a 1 year high of $76.38. The company's 50-day moving average is $72.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.29. The company has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.43 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.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This is a boost from W.R. Berkley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. W.R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.35%.

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.