W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Acquired by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 46.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $857,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $235,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $60.42 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.18. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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. Barclays raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley 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.