W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Purchased by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 117.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 247,455 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 133,731 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.06% of W. R. Berkley worth $14,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew 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 buying an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 211.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position 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 worth $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in W. R. Berkley by 128.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,507,757 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $85,535,000 after buying an additional 846,331 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the company's stock.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

NYSE WRB traded down $0.43 on Wednesday, hitting $60.86. The company had a trading volume of 2,196,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,745,946. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 12-month low of $45.75 and a 12-month high of $65.49. The company's fifty day moving average price is $60.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.46.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.28.

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.