UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Boosts Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,891 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,940 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $2,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 44.8% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 11,796 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter worth about $203,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in W. R. Berkley by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 323,681 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $18,291,000 after acquiring an additional 96,292 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,032 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 7,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 68.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 116,767 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 47,515 shares during the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. R. Berkley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.21.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE:WRB traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $69.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,246,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,777,257. The stock has a market cap of $26.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.36. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $76.38.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.34%.

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.