Fmr LLC Increases Stock Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Fmr LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,515 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $6,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,553,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $593,584,000 after purchasing an additional 54,530 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,698,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,838,000 after buying an additional 92,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,128,000 after buying an additional 139,588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on WRB. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.28.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of W. R. Berkley stock opened at $60.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12 month low of $45.75 and a 12 month high of $65.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.48. The stock has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

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.