W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 137,629 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,704 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $429,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WRB. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $63.72. 1,404,676 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,903,765. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.49. The business's fifty day moving average price is $59.59 and its two-hundred 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.67.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

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.