W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stock Position Cut by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 358,937 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 29,010 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.09% of W. R. Berkley worth $20,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 108,421 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,151,000 after buying an additional 36,140 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 26,082 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 8,808 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 46.9% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 279.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,232 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 92,574 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,252,000 after purchasing an additional 30,833 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WRB. Evercore ISI raised their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE WRB traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $60.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,437,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,791,402. The firm's 50 day moving average is $58.40 and its 200 day moving average is $55.90. The company has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.30 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

W. R. Berkley Company 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.