Anchor Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,295,793 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 62,502 shares during the quarter. W. R. Berkley comprises approximately 2.2% of Anchor Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.34% of W. R. Berkley worth $75,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third 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 increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 55.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in 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. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Finally, 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 note on Monday, November 25th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.36.
View Our Latest Stock Report on W. R. Berkley
W. R. Berkley Price Performance
W. R. Berkley stock traded down $1.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.26. The company had a trading volume of 599,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,870,180. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.51. 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 capitalization of $23.61 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.
W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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 research analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend
The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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