Vontobel Holding Ltd. Takes $202,000 Position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,560 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,439,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,161,417,000 after purchasing an additional 195,763 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 54,530 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake 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 worth $197,838,000 after acquiring an additional 92,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,037,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,128,000 after purchasing an additional 139,588 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 1.4% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,929,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,654,000 after purchasing an additional 26,464 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE WRB opened at $59.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.57. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $43.20 and a 12-month high of $61.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 21.34% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 8.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on WRB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

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.