Parnassus Investments LLC Has $62.06 Million Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Parnassus Investments LLC reduced its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,060,467 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 73,747 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $62,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley during the third quarter valued at $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 279.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $61.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.73. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

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.