W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) Stake Lifted by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB - Free Report) by 49.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 147,052 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 48,951 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.'s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $8,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in W. R. Berkley during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 580 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 173.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 546 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

W. R. Berkley Stock Performance

W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.45. 480,576 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,790,917. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.82. W. R. Berkley Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.88 and a fifty-two week high of $61.96. The firm has a market cap of $23.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.91% and a net margin of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. W. R. Berkley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.