Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,792 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $573,000.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WRB. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $857,814,000 after buying an additional 4,947,830 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $642,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. 68.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WRB shares. Morgan Stanley began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.36.
Read Our Latest Report on W. R. Berkley
W. R. Berkley Trading Up 1.1 %
WRB traded up $0.72 on Monday, hitting $63.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,404,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,903,765. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1 year low of $50.73 and a 1 year high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts expect that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.
W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.34%.
About W. R. Berkley
(
Free Report)
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.
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