Janus Henderson Group PLC Trims Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Janus Henderson Group PLC decreased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,957,020 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,364,938 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 2.61% of W. R. Berkley worth $582,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,477,932 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $85,853,000 after acquiring an additional 444,986 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter valued at $982,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $560,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,967 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 119,327 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,766,000 after buying an additional 4,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of W. R. Berkley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $68.39.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock opened at $72.47 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $76.38. The firm has a market cap of $27.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.52 and a 200-day moving average of $62.71.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released 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). W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's 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.

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