Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $2,878,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after acquiring an additional 14,933 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 47,313 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 14,639 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 205.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 68,526 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 46,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,245,000. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.70.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 0.1 %

WRB stock opened at $57.45 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. W. R. Berkley Co. has a twelve month low of $41.37 and a twelve month high of $61.28.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.12. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company had revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is currently 8.51%.

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.