Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Sells 333 Shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lessened its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,598 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 333 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 121.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 15,883 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $929,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $62.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. As a group, research analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WRB. Barclays increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

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.