W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,891 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,940 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the third quarter valued at about $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,291,000 after purchasing an additional 96,292 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 49.6% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,363,000 after buying an additional 7,968 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 68.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,624,000 after buying an additional 47,515 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. R. Berkley Trading Up 7.4 %

Shares of WRB opened at $71.21 on Monday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $76.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s payout ratio is 7.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price target 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. Morgan Stanley assumed 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.